HISTORICAL  .STUDIES 


/n  TT  TT  "O V"*  TT  ;  :T>TT  T  T     T*\  T  TVT /~* 

Gnu  R G-H.  -;B U I JUD  ING 


::.     : .:. . 


MIDDLED  AGES 


VENICE,  SIENA,  FLORENCE 


-— ^  ^ 


HISTORICAL    STUDIES 


OF 


CHURCH-BUILDING 


IN   THE 


MIDDLE   AGES 


VENICE,    SIENA,   FLORENCE 


BY 

CHARLES   ELIOT   NORTON 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN  SQUARE 
i  880 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1880,  by 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington 


CONTENTS. 


i. 

CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Degradation  of  the  Arts  after  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. — Effort  of  Charlemagne 
to  Revive  them. — Improvement  during  Tenth  Century  in  the  Conditions  of 
Society. — Beginnings  of  Distinct  National  Life  in  Europe. — Principles  of 
Unity;  Christianity  and  the  Church,  the  Tradition  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
Roman  Law,  Commerce,  Equality  of  Intellectual  Conditions. — Moral  Unity 
of  the  Western  Nations  Illustrated  by  the  History  of  Architecture  from 
Eleventh  to  Thirteenth  Century. — Revival  of  the  Arts  near  1000  A.D. — Anal- 
ogy in  the  History  of  Language  and  the  Arts. — The  Impulse  of  Expression 
in  Architecture  Manifest  in  Zeal  for  Church-building. — Motives  of  this  Zeal. 
— The  Services  of  the  Church  to  Mediaeval  Society. — Activity  of  Building 
in  Germany,  in  Italy,  and  elsewhere. — Essential  Similarity  in  the  Style  of 
Architecture  throughout  Western  Europe. — The  Romanesque  Style. — Rapid, 
Regular,  and  Splendid  Development  of  Architecture. — Monastic  and  Lay 
Builders. — The  Gothic  Style. — Revival  of  the  Sense  of  Beauty,  of  the  Study  of 
Nature. — Pervading  Artistic  Spirit. — The  Union  of  the  Arts  in  the  Church 
Edifice. — General  Lack  of  Contemporary  Information  in  regard  to  Church- 
building. — Illustrations  from  the  Romances. — Exceptions  to  the  General  Lack 
of  Information. — Conclusion Page  3 


II. 
VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

Unique  Character  of  Venice  and  the  Venetians. — Affection  of  the  Venetians  for 
their  City. — The  Commerce  of  Venice,  Trade  with  the  East. — Political  and 
Ecclesiastical  Independence  of  the  Venetians. — Civic  Good  Order. — Confi- 
dence in  the  Perpetuity  of  Venice. — St.  Mark  Patron  of  Venice. — Legend  of 
the  Translation  of  his  Body  from  Alexandria. — The  First  Church  of  St. 
Mark. — Its  Destruction  by  Fire. — Disappearance  of  the  Body  of  the  Saint. 
— The  Miracle  of  its  Discovery. — The  Building  and  Plan  of  the  Existing 
Church. — Its  Adornment. — Mosaics. — Inscriptions. — Change  in  Character  of 
Venetian  Architecture  in  Fifteenth  Century. — St.  Mark's  as  the  Scene  of 


iv  CONTENTS. 

Public  Transactions. — The  Religious  Quality  of  Venetian  Character. — The 
Legend  of  Pope  Alexander  III.  and  Frederic  Barbarossa. — Enrico  Dandolo. 
— Preparations  for  the  Third  Crusade. — Mission  of  Villehardouin  to  Venice. 
— Proceedings  of  the  Venetians. — Departure  of  the  Fleet. — St.  Mark's  En- 
riched by  the  Pillage  of  Constantinople. — The  Story  of  St.  Mark's  an  Epit- 
ome of  that  of  Venice Page  39 


III. 

SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

I.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  DUOMO,  AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  MONTAPERTI. 

Turbulence  of  the  Sienese  during  Middle  Ages. — Public  Works  in  Twelfth  Cen- 
tury.— Beginning  of  the  Duomo. — Its  Site. — Story  of  the  Early  Work. — The 
Building  a  Work  of  the  Commune. —  Ordinances  relating  to  it. —  Sienese 
Archives. — Funds  for  Building. — The  Festival  of  the  Madonna  of  August. — 
Earliest  Records  relating  to  the  Existing  Building. — Work  done  in  1260. — 
Guelf  and  Ghibelline. — Effect  of  Death  of  Frederic  II.  on  Party  Relations. — 
Discord  between  Florence  and  Siena. — Ghibellines  Exiled  from  Florence 
Welcomed  by  Siena. — Preparations  for  War. — Manfred  Takes  Siena  under 
his  Protection. — German  Mercenaries. — Campaign  of  the  Spring  of  1260. — 
Farinata  degli  Uberti. — Preparations  for  Autumn  Campaign. — Florentines 
March  towards  Siena,  and  Encamp  at  Montaperti. — Summons  to  the  City  to 
Surrender. — Deliberations  and  Preparations  of  the  Sienese. — Battle  of  Mon- 
taperti.— Rout  of  the  Florentines. — Results  of  the  Sienese  Victory 87 

II.  THE  STORY  OF  THE  DUOMO  AFTER  1 260. 

Progress  of  the  Building. — The  Cupola. — Irregularities  in  Construction. — The 
Pulpit  of  Niccola  Pisano. — Release  of  Prisoners. — Pier  Pettignano. — The 
Fa9ade. — Giovanni  Pisano. — Revival  of  Painting. — Duccio  di  Boninsegna, 
his  Altar-piece. — Celebration  in  Taking  it  to  the  Duomo. — The  New  Baptis- 
tery.— Proposal  for  a  New  Church. — Its  Rejection. — Slow  Progress  of  the 
Building. — Oblates. — New  Statutes  respecting  the  Duomo. — Change  in  the 
Spiritual  Temper  of  the  People  in  Fourteenth  Century. — Flourishing  Condi- 
tion of  the  City. — Resolve  to  Build  a  New  Church. — Beauty  and  Magnifi- 
cence of  the  New  Design. — Work  Begun. — Lando  di  Pietro. — Calamities  in 
1340. — Activity  in  Public  Works. — Increase  of  Wealth  and  Dissoluteness. — 
The  Plague  of  1348. — Its  Horrors. — Desolation  of  the  City. — Slow  and  Par- 
tial Recovery. — Diminution  of  Population,  and  of  Means  for  Carrying  on  the 
Duomo. — The  New  Church  Given  Up  and  in  Great  Part  Demolished. — End 
of  the  Story  of  the  Duomo  as  a  Great  Civic  Work. — Completion  of  the  Exist- 
ing Building. — Its  Wealth  of  Adornment. — Decline  of  Siena 124 


CONTENTS. 


IV. 

FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

I.   THE  CHURCH   OF  ARNOLFO. 

Flourishing  Condition  of  Florence  at  Close  of  Thirteenth  Century. — Her  Political 
Administration. — Ordinances  of  Justice. — The  Arti,  their  Organization  and 
Influence. — Public  Works. — Rebuilding  of  Sta.  Reparata. — New  Church  Be- 
gun 1294. — Sources  of  Means  for  its  Erection. — Arnolfo  di  Cambio  Archi- 
tect.— Character  of  his  Style. — Wretched  Condition  of  Florence  in  1300. — 
Dino  Compagni's  Chronicle. — Charles  of  Valois  at  Florence. — Dante  Con- 
demned and  Banished. — Death  of  Arnolfo. — His  Work  in  Florence. — Pal- 
aces and  Towers. — Methods  of  Construction. — Conflagration  of  1304. — Party 
Strife. — Neglect  of  Work  on  the  Cathedral. — War  with  Castruccio  Castra- 
cani. — Burning  of  Cecco  d' Ascoli. — Effects  of  War. — Charge  of  the  Duomo 
Committed  to  the  Art  of  Wool. — Superintendence  of  Public  Works  by  the 
Arts. — The  Baptistery  in  Charge  of  the  Art  of  Calimala. — Statute  of  the  Art. 
— Feast  of  St.  John  Baptist. — Release  of  Prisoners. — The  Care  of  the  Car- 
roccio. — Procurators  at  Rome. — 1334  :  Giotto  Chosen  Chief  Master  of  the 
Work  of  the  Cathedral. — His  Work  on  it. — His  Bell-tower. — His  Death. — 
The  Plague  of  1348. — Its  Effects  in  Florence. — New  Plans  for  the  Duomo. — 
Arnolfo's  Design  Abandoned. — 1357  :  Work  Begun  on  the  New  Design. — 
Francesco  Talenti  Chief  Master. — Character  of  the  New  Design. — Change 
in  Architectural  Taste. — Progress  of  the  Work  till  the  Beginning  of  Fifteenth 
Century Page  181 

II.  THE  DOME  OF  BRUNELLESCHI. 

Picture  in  the  Spanish  Chapel  in  which  the  Duomo  is  Represented. — The  Prob- 
lem of  the  Dome. — The  Doors  of  the  Baptistery. — Competition  of  1401. — 
Brunelleschi  and  Ghiberti. — Decision  in  Favor  of  Ghiberti. — The  Biographers 
of  Brunelleschi. — Brunelleschi's  Journey  to  Rome. — Its  Object. — His  Studies 
there. — Progress  of  Work  on  the  Duomo. — Designs  for  the  Dome. — Delib- 
erations of  the  Opera. — Competition. — Brunelleschi's  Advice  and  Model. — 
Donatello  Assists  him. — Brunelleschi's  Project. — Its  Novelty  and  Boldness. — 
Decision  in  its  Favor. — 1420 :  Brunelleschi,  Ghiberti,  and  Battista  d'  Antonio 
Chosen  Chief  Master-builders. — Group  of  Artists  atFlorence. — Artistic  Spirit 
of  the  Florentines. — Story  of  Building  of  the  Cupola  as  told  by  Vasari. — 
Character  of  Vasari's  Lives. — Giovanni  di  Gherardo's  Sonnet  and  Remon- 
strance.— Progress  of  the  Work. — Ghiberti's  Incompetence. — Ruse  of  Bru- 
nelleschi.— 1432  :  Close  of  Ghiberti's  Connection  with  the  Work. — Incidents 
of  Building. — War  with  Filippo  Visconti. — Slackness  in  Progress. — Renewal 
of  Activity  in  Building. — 1434 :  Completion  of  Dome. — Pope  Eugenius  IV.  in 
Florence. — 1436  :  Consecration  of  the  Duomo. — The  Lives  of  Vespasiano  da 
Bisticci. —  Cosimo  de'  Medici. — Activity  of  the  Arts. —  Benediction  of  the 
Cupola. — Leon  Battista  Alberti. — Dedication  of  his  Treatise  on  Painting 
to  Brunelleschi. — The  Lantern. — Decision  in  Favor  of  Brunelleschi's  Model. 


vi  CONTENTS. 

—  Brunellesclii  in  Charge  of  Construction.  —  Council  of  Florence.  —  Cere- 
mony of  Union  of  Eastern  and  Western  Churches  in  the  Duomo. — Influ- 
ence of  the  Presence  of  Greek  Prelates  on  the  Study  of  Greek  in  Florence. 
— Death  of  Brunelleschi. — Completion  of  Brunelleschi's  Design Page  234 

APPENDIX  I.:  DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA 295 

I.  1260.     Extract  from  Statute. 

II.  1262.     Letter  of  Captain  of  the  People  to  the  Commune  of  Mon- 
ticiano. 

III.  1272.     Choice  of  Operaio. 

IV.  1280.     Election  of  Board  of  Works. 
V.  1282.     Release  of  Prisoners. 

VI.  1290.  Donation  of  Money  by  the  Commune. 

VII.  1297.  Ghino  di  Tacco. 

VIII.  1337.  Extract  from  Statute. 

IX.  1353.  Subsidy  for  the  Works. 

X.  1388.  Order  Concerning  the  Drafting  of  Wills. 

XI.  1389.  Order  Concerning  Offerings. 

APPENDIX  II. :  IRREGULARITIES  OF  CONSTRUCTION  IN  ITALIAN  BUILDINGS 
OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 319 

INDEX 323 


I 
CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


HISTORICAL    STUDIES 

OF 

CHURCH-BUILDING 

IN   THE 

MIDDLE  AGES. 


I. 

CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

THE  completeness  of  the  wreck  of  ancient  civiliza- 
tion in  Western  Europe  during  the  centuries  that  fol- 
lowed the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  is  indicated  by 
the  degradation  of  all  the  arts  of  expression.  As  one 
light  of  ancient  civilization  after  another  was  extin- 
guished, the  habits  of  culture,  of  which  these  arts  are 
the  manifestation,  disappeared.  The  language  of  com- 
mon speech  as  well  as  that  of  literature  became  feeble 
and  corrupt.  The  last  book  in  which  something  of 
classic  dignity  and  vigor  survived  bore  the  significant 
title  of  The  Consolation  of  Philosophy.  Palace,  villa, 
and  temple,  the  monuments  of  ancient  elegance  and 
splendor,  were  destroyed  by  violence,  or  deserted  and 
left  to  slow  decay.  No  new  great  works  of  civic 
utility  or  adornment  were  undertaken ;  the  old  were 


4  CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

no  longer  maintained.  Architecture,  sculpture,  and 
painting,  if  practised  at  all,  were  occupied  with  the 
rude  execution  of  poor  and  unimaginative  designs. 
Skill  even  in  the  mechanic  arts  declined. 

In  Italy,  indeed,  a  few  cities  remained,  or  became  for 
a  longer  or  shorter  time,  centres  of  a  life  that  preserved 
feeble  traditions  of  the  old  civilization  or  displayed 
some  traits  of  original  culture.  Rome,  not  yet  at  her 
worst,  was  busy  alike  in  destroying  the  works  of  hea- 
then ages*  and  in  building  and  decorating  Christian 
churches  that  reproduced  the  forms  of  the  imperial 
basilica.  Ravenna  received  from  Constantinople  the 

*  The  rapid  loss  of  sense  of  the  worth  of  works  of  ancient  art  gives 
evidence,  not  so  much  of  the  change  of  sentiment  due  to  the  influence 
of  Christianity,  as  of  the  growth  of  actual  barbarism.  The  following 
extract  from  a  letter  by  R.  Lanciani,  in  the  Athenccum  (London)  of  June 
24,  1879,  illustrates  this  point: 

"  Two  striking  instances  of  the  wanton  destruction  of  works  of  art 
after  the  fall  of  the  Empire  have  been  obtained  in  the  last  days.  A 
few  yards  from  the  so-called  Temple  of  Minerva  Medica  a  wall  was 
discovered  built  with  statues.  Seven  have  already  been  put  together, 
as  I  mentioned  in  my  last  letter.  Not  far  from  the  same  place  we  are 
exploring  a  foundation  wall,  eight  feet  square,  built  with  the  same  ma- 
terials. The  upper  strata  contain  slabs  of  marble,  stripped  from  pave- 
ments and  from  walls,  steps,  lintels,  thresholds,  etc.  The  middle  strata 
contain  columns,  pedestals,  capitals,  all  split  into  fragments.  Finally, 
at  the  bottom  of  the  wall,  statues  begin  to  appear  of  exquisite  work- 
manship, together  with  busts,  hermse,  bass-reliefs,  etc.  The  stratifica- 
tion of  these  marbles  shows  that  at  the  time  when  the  foundation  wall 
was  being  constructed  there  was  in  the  neighborhood  a  shrine,  a  tem- 
ple, a  fountain,  or  some  such  monument,  in  good  preservation  and  pro- 
fusely ornamented.  The  masons  first  took  advantage  of  whatever  was 
movable  without  difficulty,  and  accordingly  we  find  the  statues  at  the 
bottom  of  the  trench.  Then  they  put  their  hands  on  what  was  half 
movable,  and  this  is  the  reason  why  columns,  capitals,  etc.,  are  found 
in  the  middle  strata.  A  further  want  of  materials  obliged  them  to  at- 
tack at  last  the  building  itself,  its  steps,  thresholds,  etc." 


SOCIAL   CONDITIONS  OF  EUROPE.  ~ 

arts  which  gave  lustre  to  the  Empire  of  the  East.  The 
Lombards  showed  in  their  rough  but  impressive  work 
the  vigorous  spirit  and  kindling  imagination  of  a  strong, 
half-barbaric  Northern  race. 

But  throughout  the  greater  part  of  Europe  the  ele- 
ments of  society  were  too  confused,  and  its  conditions 
too  unsettled,  for  the  undertaking  of  any  work  that  re- 
quired stable  modes  of  life  and  implied  confidence  in 
the  permanence  of  established  order.  Charlemagne 
(742-814)  indeed,  who,  for  a  moment,  by  force  of  he- 
roic personal  character  and  iron  will,  evoked  order  out 
of  chaos,  and  revived  the  fading  memory  of  imperial 
authority,  conceived  the  generous  but  impracticable  de- 
sign of  restoring  life  to  literature  and  the  arts.  The 
famous  church  at  Aachen  is  the  venerable  monument 
of  his  effort,  and  one  of  the  most  impressive  memorials 
in  the  world  of  the  power  of  character  over  circum- 
stance. But  the  order  which  Charlemagne  established 
in  his  dominions,  and  which  alone  made  culture  and  the 
arts  possible,  fell  to  pieces  in  the  nerveless  hands  of  his 
successors.  The  conditions  of  society  became  more 
wretched  and  distracted  than  ever ;  and,  in  the  confu- 
sion and  tumult  of  the  ninth  century,  all  forms  of  ex- 
pression became  still  ruder  and  feebler  than  before. 

But  this  period  of  disintegration  and  dissolution  was 
one  of  preparation  for  the  reorganization  of  society 
upon  new  foundations.  The  old  structure  must  be  de- 
stroyed that  the  new  might  come  into  existence.  As 
years  went  on  the  brutal  forces  of  anarchy  were  here 


6  CHURCH-BUILDING  IN   THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

and  there  successfully  withstood.  The  principles  by 
which  the  modern  world  was  to  be  regulated  slowly 
gained  strength,  though  but  dimly  recognized  and  im- 
perfectly defined. 

In  the  course  of  the  tenth  century,  Europe  began 
to  take  on  a  new  shape.  A  faint  consciousness  of  dis- 
tinct national  life  was  felt  in  Italy,  Germany,  France, 
and  England.  The  lines  of  modern  nationalities  were 
beginning  to  define  themselves.  The  wanderings  of 
the  races  had  almost  ceased,  and  the  people  were  set- 
tling down  into  their  permanent  homes.  At  the  same 
time,  while  the  various  nations  were  thus  drawing 
apart  within  local  boundaries  of  which  the  precise 
limits  were,  indeed,  in  many  cases  but  imperfectly  de- 
termined, certain  general  influences  were  operating  in- 
cessantly and  irresistibly  to  unite  them  as  they  had 
never  before  been  united  as  members  of  a  vast  and 
real,  however  vague,  moral  commonwealth. 

Chief  among  these  uniting  influences  was  Christian- 
ity. For  it  not  only  subjected  all  believers,  whatever 
their  difference  of  race  and  custom,  to  a  common  rule 
of  interior  life,  bringing  all  under  one  universally  ac- 
knowledged, supreme  authority,  but  it  also  filled  their 
imaginations  with  common  hopes  and  fears,  and  sup- 
plied their  understandings  with  common  conceptions 
of  the  universe,  of  the  origin  and  order  of  the  world, 
and  of  the  destiny  of  man. 

The  Church,  in  which  the  authority  of  Christianity 
was  organized  and  embodied  as  the  divine  instrument 


THE  CHURCH  AND   THE  EMPIRE.  ~ 

for  the  government  of  the  world,  claimed  universal 
obedience.  Within  her  pale  there  was  no  distinction 
of  race  or  of  person.  Her  discipline  exacted  of  all  men 
equal  submission.  Her  ceremonial  observances  were 
celebrated  everywhere  with  a  uniform  and  impressive 
ritual.  Her  sacraments  were  essential  to  salvation. 
By  the  vast  mass  of  ecclesiastical  tradition  and  legend 
she  afforded  the  material  of  thought,  fancy,  and  feeling 
to  the  whole  body  of  Christian  people;  and  by  fixing 
her  chief  seat  at  Rome  she  had  secured  the  inher- 
itance of  a  large  share  of  the  superstitious  reverence 
with  which  the  paramount  dominion  of  the  mistress  of 
the  ancient  world  had  been  regarded  from  of  old. 

While  she  thus  asserted  her  authority  over  the 
spiritual  concerns  of  men,  and  extended  it  over  many 
of  their  material  interests,  the  tradition  of  the  right  of 
Rome  to  the  government  of  the  world  survived  also  in 
the  name  of  the  Roman  Empire,  transmitting  to  the 
inheritor  of  the  title  of  emperor,  whoever  he  might  be, 
the  claim  to  hold,  by  equally  divine  right,  the  sword  of 
earthly  sovereignty.  The  Empire  was,  in  truth,  often, 
and  for  long  periods,  little  more  than  a  name  for  an 
ideal  institution ;  but  this  name  was  the  source  of  the 
most  prevailing  political  theory  of  the  Middle  Ages ; 
and  such  was  the  force  of  the  idea  behind  the  name 
that  it  sufficed  to  hold  the  greater  part  of  Europe  in 
allegiance,  binding  together  the  North  and  the  South — 
Germany  and  Italy — as  under  a  yoke  of  fate ;  so  that,  in 
spite  of  difference  of  race,  tradition,  language,  and  cus- 


8  CHURCH-BUILDING  IN   THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

torn,  in  spite  of  mutual  hatred  and  incessant  war,  the 
people  of  the  two  lands  were  compelled  to  advance 
along  the  path  of  history  with  a  common  and  control- 
ling sentiment  for  the  image  and  authority  of  imperial 
Rome. 

Associated  with  the  idea  of  the  Empire  of  Rome,  yet 
distinct  from  it,  and  even  more  effective  as  an  influ- 
ence in  giving  unity  to  the  civilization  of  Europe,  was 
the  body  of  legal  principles  and  political  conceptions 
derived  from  the  system  of  Roman  law  and  admin- 
istration—  principles  and  conceptions  which,  though 
greatly  and  variously  modified  by  the  laws  and  cus- 
toms of  the  Teutonic  races,  had  yet  a  large  share  in 
determining  the  new  moral  order  of  society. 

The  contrast  to  the  conditions  of  the  ancient  world 
wrought  by  the  influence  of  these  dominant  elements 
of  unity  is  of  the  most  striking  character.  For  the  first 
time  in  history  the  people  of  nations  of  diverse  origin, 
language,  and  tradition  were  brought  and  held  together 
by  the  indissoluble  ties  of  a  common  faith  and  a  com- 
mon rule  of  conduct,  as  well  as  by  generally  correspond- 
ing convictions  in  respect  to  legal  government  and  civil 
Order.  Under  the  diversified  forms  of  institutions  varied 
by  local  conditions,  these  principles  moulded  into  gen- 
eral similarity  the  broad  features  of  the  inner  as  well 
as  the  outer  life  of  men  throughout  Western  Europe. 

But  besides  the  influences  exerted  by  the  Church 
and  the  Empire — by  the  Rome  of  the  present  and  the 
past — to  create  and  foster  the  moral  unity  of  mediaeval 


SOURCES  OF  MORAL   UNITY.  9 

society,  there  were  others  of  a  more  material  nature. 
Wherever  life  and  property  acquired  some  degree  of 
security,  however  imperfect,  commerce,  still  half  pirat- 
ical, and  exposed  to  peril  on  sea  and  land,  began  to 
weave  her  fine,  strong  network  of  mutual  interests  be- 
tween distant  lands.  Venice,  daughter  of  the  \vaves, 
led  the  way  across  the  seas  with  her  fleets,  ready  alike 
for  battle  or  for  trade.  The  sails  of  Pisa  and  Genoa 
flew  close  behind.  Before  long,  the  intelligence  of  the 
artisans  of  Florence  made  their  city  the  inland  rival  of 
the  wealthy  seaports.  In  Germany,  in  France,  in  Eng- 
land, one  town  after  another  began  to  grow  strong  and 
rich  by  industry  and  traffic. 

,  Still  another  source  of  unity  lay  in  the  fact  that  the 
ruin  of  the  old  civilization  had  been  so  complete ;  that 
in  the  fall  of  the  ancient  order  the  ancient  culture  had 
become  extinct.  Many  of  the  old  sources  of  knowledge 
were  choked ;  no  one  race  or  people  possessed  any  ab- 
solute intellectual  or  material  pre-eminence ;  the  men- 
tal development  of  all  was  alike  rude  and  childish,  and 
the  most  enlightened  men  were  everywhere  groping 
about  in  uncertain  gloom  to  collect  the  scattered  mate- 
rials for  the  reconstruction  of  learning.  The  very  equal- 
ity of  ignorance  tended  to  produce  community  of  senti- 
ment. The  mental  interests  of  men  were  everywhere 
similar  in  kind ;  their  chief  topics  of  thought  for  the 
most  part  alike. 

Thus,  towards  the  beginning  of  the  second  thousand 
years  of  our  era,  the  greater  part  of  Europe  was  divid- 


I0        CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

ing  itself  into  distinct  nations,  different  in  historic  ex- 
perience and  intermixture  of  blood,  but  yet  united  by 
many  mutual  relations  and  by  common  tendencies  of 
civilization,  so  as  to  form  a  vague  commonwealth  in 
which  the  higher  interests  of  man — religion,  law,  knowl- 
edge— the  deep-rooted  traditions  common  to  the  Eu- 
ropean race,  and  the  most  widely  dominant  institutions 
were  operating  with  irregular  but  constant  force  to 
bring  its  discordant  members  into  closer  moral  connec- 
tion with  each  other  than  had  been  possible  in  any  pre- 
vious epoch  of  history. 

This  essential  and  characteristic  feature  of  the  mod- 
ern world,  this  main  distinction  between  ancient  and 
modern  civilization,*finds  its  clearest  and  most  brilliant 
expression  in  the  art  of  architecture  from  the  eleventh 
to  the  thirteenth  century.  The  motives  which  inspired 
the  great  buildings  of  this  period,  the  principles  which 
underlay  their  forms,  the  general  character  of  the  forms 
themselves,  were,  in  their  essential  nature,  the  same 
throughout  Western  Europe  from  Italy  to  England. 
The  differences  in  the  works  of  different  lands  are  but 
local  and  external  varieties.  This  intrinsic  similarity 
of  spirit  gives  unity  to  the  history  of  the  art,  and  makes 
it  practicable  to  treat  even  a  fragment  of  it,  such  as  that 
of  church-building,  not  merely  as  a  study  of  separate 
edifices,  but  as  a  clear  and  brilliant  illustration  of  the 
general  conditions  of  society,  and  especially  of  its  mor- 
al and  intellectual  dispositions. 

No  precise  date  can  be  fixed  for  the  reawakening  of 


GROWTH  OF  MODERN  LANGUAGES.  ll 

the  arts  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  dawn  was  gradual, 
and  broke  earlier  in  one  region  than  another.  Wherev- 
er, in  free  or  imperial  city,  in  royal  or  monastic  domain, 
such  a  degree  of  order  was  established  that  regular  and 
legal  modes  of  life  became  customary,  and  men  could 
look  forward  beyond  the  narrow  horizon  of  their  own 
lives  with  confidence  of  transmitting  their  remembrance 
and  their  property  to  their  successors,  wealth  began  to 
accumulate,  intelligence  revived. 

As  life  became  richer  and  more  settled,  the  range 
of  .sentiment  and  of  thought  widened.  Men  felt  un- 
wonted need  of  utterance  and  communication,  and  lan- 
guage and  the  arts  answered  to  the  strong  inward  emo- 
tion. There  was  a  close  parallel  in  their  conditions. 
The  Roman  tongue  had  suffered  a  slow  corruption. 
Rudeness  and  barbarism  had  wrought  their  worst  with 
it.  It  broke  up  into  various  dialects ;  the  dialects 
themselves  were  in  process  of  constant  change.  In  the 
South  as  well  as  in  the  North  the  elements  of  Teutonic 
tongues  became  more  and  more  mingled  with  it.  The 
time  came  when  no  layman  used  Latin  in  his  daily  con- 
versation. At  length,  after  this  long  confusion,  after 
unforeseen  and  unintended  transformations  and  muta- 
tions, new  languages  were  found  to  exist — languages 
supple,  fresh,  differing  in  composition  and  in  virtue,  suf- 
ficient not  only  for  the  transient  needs  of  intercourse, - 
but  for  the  permanent  ends  of  literature,  and  capable  of 
modulation  to  the  finest  forms  of  poetry — each  not  a 
degraded  ancient  language,  but  a  new  language  with 


12        CHURCH-BUILDING  IN   THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

qualities  and  advantages  of  its  own,  requiring  only  to 
be  developed  by  use  in  order  to  afford  the  fit  garb  for 
every  mood  of  sentiment  and  every  tone  of  thought. 

Among  the  arts,  the  one  that  has  alike  the  closest 
and  the  widest  relations  to  the  life  of  a  people — to  its 
wants,  habits,  and  culture — and  which  gives  the  fullest 
and  most  exact  expression  to  its  moral  disposition,  its 
imagination,  and  its  intelligence,  is  that  of  architecture. 
Its  history  during  the  Dark  Ages  had  been  analogous 
to  that  of  language.  The  requirements  it  had  had  to 
meet  were  in  great  part  confined  to  those  of  immediate 
necessity.  There  was  little  thought  of  building  for  pos- 
terity. But  as  the  condition  of  society  slowly  changed 
for  the  better  the  improvement  found  manifestation  in 
architecture  even  earlier  than  in  literature.  The  grow- 
ing sense  of  perpetuity  in  the  life  of  the  community 
promoted  the  revival  of  permanent  and  monumental 
building.  The  new  structures  showed  their  derivation 
from  ancient  models,  but  they  were  instinct  with  an 
original  spirit  by  which  design  and  construction  were 
to  be  gradually  but  profoundly  modified  in  response  to 
the  needs  and  desires  of  men  controlled  by  ideas,  sen- 
timents, and  emotions  widely  different  from  those  of 
the  ancient  world. 

There  are  many  indications  of  this  revival  as  early 
as  the  last  quarter  of  the  tenth  century,*  but  the  year 

*  The  existing  Church  of  St.  Mark  at  Venice  and  the  Duomo  of 
Murano  were  begun  at  this  period ;  but  Venice  was  more  advanced 
in  civilization  than  any  other  part  of  Europe. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  ARCHITECTURE.  13 

1000  may  be  taken  as  a  convenient  date  to  mark  the 
setting- in  of  a  strong  current  of  progress  in  the  art, 
which,  for  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  runs 
on  through  ever  deepening  and  widening  channels. 
From  this  time  the  successive  steps  may  be  traced 
by  which  it  advanced  with  constant  increase  of  power 
of  expression,  of  pliability  and  variety  of  adaptation, 
of  beauty  in  design  and  skill  in  construction,  until, 
at  last,  in  the  consummate  splendor  of  such  a  cathe- 
dral as  that  of  Our  Lady  of  Chartres  or  of  Amiens,  it 
reached  a  height  of  achievement  that  has  never  been 
surpassed. 

It  was  especially  in  the  building  of  churches  that 
the  impulse  for  expression  in  architecture  displayed 
itself,  for  it  was  in  the  church  that  the  faith  of  the 
community  took  visible  form.  The  two  motives  which 
have  been  most  effective  in  the  production  of  noble 
human  works — religion  and  local  affection  and  pride — 
luiited  to  stimulate  energies  that  had  long  been  sup- 
pressed. Either  alone  or  in  combination,  these  two 
most  powerful  principles  of  action  were  alike  existent 
in  their  highest  force.  The  nature  of  mediaeval  socie- 
ty cannot  be  understood,  the  meaning  and  character  of 
a  mediaeval  cathedral  will  not  be  comprehended,  the 
devotion  and  sacrifices  of  the  builders  of  churches  in 
city  and  village,  in  desert  places  and  on  mountain-tops, 
unless  the  imagination  represent  the  force  and  con- 
stancy of  religious  motives  in  a  rude  society,  and  the 
commanding  position  which  the  Church  then  occu- 


!4        CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

pied  towards  the  world  as  the  recognized  representa- 
tive of  the  Divine  government,  and  the  authoritative 
expounder  of  the  Divine  will.  The  lawlessness  and  ra- 
pine prevalent  during  the  Dark  Ages,  the  oppression 
of  the  weak,  the  misery  of  the  poor,  the  uncertainty 
of  life  and  possession  among  all  classes,  the  contrast 
between  the  actual  state  of  society  and  the  concep- 
tions of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  of  which  the  Church 
was  the  visible  though  imperfect  type,  brought  all  men 
to  her  doors. 

In  the  midst  of  darkness  and  confusion  and  dread, 
the  ideal  Church — and  it  is  by  ideal  and  fanciful  con- 
ceptions that  men  of  imperfectly  trained  intelligence 
are  apt  to  be  most  powerfully  and  permanently  affect- 
ed— presented  herself  as  a  harbor  of  refuge  from  the 
storms  of  the  world,  as  the  image  of  the  city  of  God, 
whose  walls  were  a  sure  defence.  While  all  else  was 
unstable  and  changeful,  she,  with  her  unbroken  tradi- 
tion and  her  uninterrupted  services,  vindicated  the  prifi- 
ciple  of  order  and  the  moral  continuity  of  the  race. 
Superstition,  natural  in  a  period  of  low  culture,  stimu- 
lated piety,  and  displayed  itself  in  ardors  of  irrational 
and  imaginative  devotion,  of  which  the  first  Crusades 
afford  a  striking  instance.  No  sacrifice  by  which  their 
faith  might  be  witnessed,  no  effort  to  secure  salvation, 
seemed  extreme  to  men  in  this  temper.  The  doctrines 
of  the  Church  in  respect  to  heaven  and  hell  lent  them- 
selves to  material  interpretation.  The  endowment  of 
monasteries,  the  building  of  churches,  were  works  by 


THE  SERVICES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  jr 

which  the  Divine  favor  was  to  be  secured  and  the  soul 
to  be  saved. 

A  deep,  wide-spread  conviction  of  human  sinfulness 
was  one  of  the  characteristic  traits  of  these  times,  hav- 
ing its  root  not  so  much  in  the  doctrine  of  the  fallen 
nature  of  man  as  in  the  fact  of  the  prevalence  of  crime, 
immorality,  and  suffering.  The  Church  alone  could  lift 
from  the  world  the  burden  of  its  sin ;  and  though  her 
ministers  might  fall  short  of  fulfilling  their  high  calling, 
though  pope,  prelate,  and  priest  might  be  partakers  in 
violence  and  partners  in  sin,  yet  the  Church  remained 
pure,  steadfastly  upholding  the  power  of  righteousness, 
preaching  the  coming  of  the  Lord  to  judge  the  earth, 
asserting  her  claim  to  loose  and  to  bind,  and  vindicat- 
ing it  with  the  blood  of  confessors  and  martyrs. 

But,  besides  all  this,  the  Church  was  the  great  popu- 
lar institution  of  the  Middle  Ages,  cheering  and  pro- 
tecting the  poor  and  friendless ;  the  teacher,  the  healer, 
the  feeder  of  the  "  little  people  of  God."  The  services 
of  monastic  and  secular  clergy  alike,  their  offices  of 
faith,  charity,  and  labor  in  the  field  and  the  hovel,  in 
the  school  and  the  hospital,  as  well  as  in  the  church, 
were  for  centuries  the  chief  witnesses  of  the  spirit  of 
human  brotherhood,  and  of  the  one  essential  doctrine 
of  Christianity.  In  times  when  lord  and  serf  were  far- 
thest apart,  when  the  villain  had  no  rights  but  those  of 
the  beasts  which  perish,  the  Church  read  the  parable 
of  Dives  and  Lazarus,  and  declared  the  equality  of  man 
in  the  presence  of  God. 


1 6       CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Her  priesthood,  spread  abroad  over  the  world,  form- 
ed a  vast  corporation,  inspired  by  similar  motives,  link- 
ed by  common  interests,  and  supplying  to  a  distracted 
society  the  priceless  example  of  strength  that  had  its 
source  in  unity.  For  every  member  of  this  vast  body 
of  the  priesthood  was  strong,  not  only  in  the  sanctity 
of  his  office,  but  in  the  numbers  and  the  sympathy 
of  his  brethren,  and  in  the  authority  of  the  Church 
herself.  The  clergy  formed  the  first  general  society 
in  Europe,  and'  it  was  through  their  intercourse  that 
some  semblance  of  interchange  of  thought  was  main- 
tained among  widely  separated  nations. 

It  was  not  strange,  then,  that  when,  towards  the 
close  of  the  tenth  century,  in  various  parts  of  Europe, 
the  sense  of  increasing  civil  order  and  security  was 
distinctly  felt,  one  of  the  first  signs  of  this  improve- 
ment was  a  general  zeal  for  the  building  of  churches — 
a  work  of  piety  to  which  all,  poor  and  rich,  weak  and 
strong,  alike  could  contribute,  and  in  the  merits  of 
which  all  could  have  a  share.  It  was  a  work  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  of  his  Mother,  for  the  honor  of  the 
saints,  for  the  credit  of  the  community,  for  the  eternal 
benefit  of  every  individual.  The  hearts  and  the  imag- 
inations of  all  men  were  engaged  in  it ;  the  dispersed 
resources  of  the  people  were  brought  together  to  achieve 
it ;  capacities  that  had  long  been  unused  were  evoked, 
and,  as  in  other  ages,  a  vivid  and  earnest  faith  found 
its  just  and  characteristic  expression. 

According  to  the  testimony  of  a  contemporary  eye- 


REBUILDING  OF  MONASTIC  CHURCHES.  Ij 

witness,  Rudolphus  Glaber,  or  Rudolph  the  Bald,  a 
monk  of  Cluny,  just  after  the  thousandth  year  had 
passed,  men  began  throughout  almost  all  the  world, 
but  especially  in  Italy  and  France,  to  rebuild  the 
churches,  and  in  more  noble  style  than  that  before  in 
use.  "  It  was  as  if  the  earth,"  such  is  his  picturesque 
phrase, "  rousing  itself  and  casting  away  its  old  robes, 
clothed  itself  with  the  white  garment  of  churches." : 

Of  these  new  churches,  a  great  number  were  those 
of  abbeys  and  monasteries.  The  inestimable  services 
which,  during  the  most  troubled  times,  the  religious  or- 

*  "  Erat  enim  instar  ac  si  mundus  ipse  excutiendo  semet,  rejecta 
vetustate,  passim  candidam  ecclesiarum  vestem  indueret."  Histories 
sui  Temporis,  lib.  iii.  cap.  vi. ;  De  Innovatione  Ecclesiarum  in  toto  Orbe. 
Rudolph  the  Bald's  History  of  his  Own  Time,  from  the  election  of 
Hugh  Capet  to  the  year  1046,  in  spite  of  its  wretched  style,  gives  a 
striking  picture  of  the  material  and  intellectual  conditions  of  the 
period.  The  fables  and  miracles  with  which  the  book  abounds  afford 
many  illustrations  of  the  spiritual  temper  of  the  age.  It  was  first 
printed  by  Duchesne,  Hist.  Franc.  Scriptores,  torn.  iv.  pp.  1-58 ;  it  is 
included  by  Migne  in  his  Patrologia,  torn,  cxlii.  In  connection  with 
this  general  impulse  of  church-building,  Rudolph  says  that  about  this 
time  many  relics  of  saints  that  had  long  lain  hidden  were  discovered. 
"Candidate,  ut  diximus,  in  novatis  Ecclesiarum  basilicis,  universo 
mundo,  subsequent!  tempore,  id  est  anno  octavo  infra  praedictum  mil- 
lesimum  humanati  Salvatoris  annum  [1008],  revelata  sunt,  diversorum 
argumentorum  indiciis,  quorsum  diu  latuerant,  plurimorum  Sanctorum 
pignora."  Ibid.  cap.  vi.  The  effect  of  this  discovery  was  to  quicken 
and  maintain  the  ardor  of  the  pious,  and  to  secure  constant  and  abun- 
dant contributions  to  the  work. 

The  renewal  of  monumental  building  in  the  eleventh  century  has 
often  been  ascribed  to  the  sense  of  relief  and  security  experienced  by 
the  Christian  community  after  the  completion  of  the  first  thousand 
years  of  our  era,  there  having  been,  it  is  asserted,  a  general  apprehen- 
sion of  the  end  of  the  world  at  this  date.  This  belief  was,  doubtless, 
wide-spread,  but  it  was  by  no  means  universal,  and  there  is  abundant 
evidence  to  show  that  it  had  not  prevented  men,  towards  the  close  of 
the  tenth  century,  from  undertaking  works  intended  for  long  duration. 

2 


1 8      CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

ders  had  rendered  to  society,  by  maintaining  the  stand- 
ard of  self-discipline,  of  obedience,  of  humility  and  char- 
ity; by  cherishing  the  faint  and  almost  expiring  coals 
of  letters  and  learning  and  the  arts ;  by  the  shelter 
and  immunity  which  they  afforded  not  only  to  their 
own  brethren,  but  to  the  poor  people  settled  on  their 
lands ;  by  their  well-directed  labor  on  the  soil  and  in 
the  mechanic  arts,  as  well  as  by  the  powerful  influence 
of  their  example  as  centres  of  orderly  life — all  these 
services  had  been  rewarded  by  the  increase  of  their 
possessions  and  their  power.  Exemptions  and  privi- 
leges, the  donations  and  bequests  of  the  pious  and  the 
penitent,  had  enriched  the  abbeys  and  monasteries  in 
all  parts  of  Europe,  and  had  extended  their  domains 
till  they  included  a  vast  portion  of  the  land.* 

The  original  churches  of  the  monasteries,  which  had 
been  for  the  most  part  humble,  but  sufficient  for  their 
early  needs,  were  little  befitting  their  increased  size, 
dignity,  and  wealth.  The  time  had  come  for  the  build- 
ing of  churches  which  should  correspond  to  these  new 
conditions,  and  the  arts  which  had  long  found  shelter 

*  It  is  not  possible  to  determine  with  accuracy  the  proportion  of  the 
soil  held  respectively  by  the  regular  and  the  secular  clergy.  "  They 
did  enjoy,"  says  Hallam,  "according  to  some  authorities,  nearly  one 
half  of  England,  and  I  believe  a  greater  proportion  in  some  countries 
of  Europe."  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  ch.  vii.  pt.  i. ;  compare 
Milman,  Latin  Christianity,  bk.  xiv.  ch.  i.  Mr.  Bryce,  speaking  of  Ger- 
many, says,  "  In  the  eleventh  century,  a  full  half  of  the  land  and  wealth 
of  the  country,  and  no  small  part  of  its  military  strength,  was  in  the 
hands  of  Churchmen."  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  (1866),  ch.  viii.  p.  140. 
In  France  a  similar  state  of  things  existed ;  the  domains  of  the  great 
abbeys,  such  as  Cluny  and  St.  Denis,  were  of  the  size  of  provinces. 


ZEAL  IN  THE    WORK  IN  GERMANY.  ig 

and  nurture  in  the  cloister  were  to  repay  the  debt 
many-fold. 

The  secular  clergy  were  not  slow  in  following  the 
example  of  their  regular  brethren.  They  not  only 
recognized  the  advantage  to  the  Church,  as  a  popu- 
lar institution,  to  be  derived  from  the  general  zeal  in 
church-building,  but  they  also  shared  in  the  common 
emotion,  and  took  part  in  the  common  labor.  The 
bishops  promoted  the  erection  both  of  cathedrals  and 
of  parish  churches.  In  Germany,  for  instance,  where 
the  bishops  of  the  more  powerful  sees  exercised  civil 
no  less  than  ecclesiastical  authority,  almost  as  inde- 
pendent princes,  the  activity  in  church-building  under 
their  lead  during  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century 
was  enormous.*  The  work  was  encouraged  by  a  suc- 
cession of  devout  and  vigorous  emperors.  There  is  a 
tradition  that  the  foundations  of  three  churches,  two 
of  them  the  mightiest  of  the  time — the  Minster  at 
Limburg,  the  Cathedral  at  Speier,  and  the  Church 
of  St.  John  the  Evangelist  in  the  same  city  —  were 
laid  on  one  .day,  in  1030,  by  the  great  emperor  Con- 
rad II.  The  fact  is  questionable,  but  the  story  rep- 
resents the  spirit  of  the  age.f 

Many  of  the  new  designs  were  on  such  a  scale  as 
to  require  for  their  execution  the  toil  and  the  con- 
tributions of  more  than  one  generation  of  believers. 

*  Schnaase,  Geschichte  der  bildenden  Kiinste  (1871),  Band  iv.  p.  328. 

t  F.  von  Ouast,  Die  romanischen  Dome  des  Mittelrheins  zu  Mainz, 
Speier,  Worms  (1853),  p.  25;  Otte,  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Baukunst 
(i  874),  p.  220. 


20        CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

The  work  was  aided  by  imperial  subsidies,  by  epis- 
copal privileges  and  indulgences,  by  gifts  from  the 
episcopal  revenues.  The  massive  piles  rose  with 
grandeur  above  the  clustering  roofs  at  their  feet,  and 
threw  their  broad  shadows,  like  a  protecting  mantle, 
over  city  or  hamlet.  Of  the  multitude  of  churches 
erected  in  Germany  during  this  period,  most  have  dis- 
appeared— many  of  them  burned,  many  ruined  by  war 
or  other  violence,  many  remodelled ;  but  a  few,  such 
as  the  great  Rhenish  cathedrals  of  Mainz,  of  Speier, 
and  of  Worms,  still  exist,  more  or  less  changed,  but 
enduring  monuments  of  the  emotions  and  sentiments 
to  which  their  builders  sought  to  give  expression,  as 
well  as  of  the  intelligence  and  the  art  with  which  the 
zeal  of  the  community  was  served.* 

In  Italy  the  Church  held  a  different  position  from 
that  which  it  occupied  in  the  Western  nations  of  Eu- 
rope. Great  as  its  services  to  civilization  in  Italy  had 
been,  it  had  not  been  the  sole  ark  of  the  higher  inter- 
ests of  society.  The  imperial  traditions  of  Rome  had 
been  here  more  than  elsewhere  a  strong  principle  of 

*  "  The  grandeur  of  the  whole  building,"  says  Von  Quast,  speaking 
of  the  Cathedral  at  Speier,  "  which  of  all  Romanesque  churches  makes 
the  most  powerful  impression  on  the  beholder,  and  the  simplicity  of 
its  detail,  which  approaches  even  to  rudeness,  correspond  in  every  re- 
spect to  the  character  which  it  should  possess,  founded  as  it  was  by  an 
emperor,  and  zealously  carried  to  completion  by  his  successors  at  the 
height  of  the  power  of  the  German  Empire,  in  the  eleventh  century,  in 
order  that  it  should  serve  as  the  resting-place  of  the  highest  earthly 
rulers  of  the  world."  Die  romanischen  Dome  des  Mittelrheins,  p.  27. 
Earthly  pride  was  often  combined  as  a  strong  motive  with  pious  devo- 
tion in  the  erection  and  adornment  of  these  buildings. 


IN  ITALY.  2  I 

order  throughout  the  confusions  of  centuries  in  which 
the  change  from  the  ancient  to  the  modern  world  had 
been  going  on.  Something  of  Roman  culture  and 
of  Roman  institutions,  at  least  in  the  suggestive  form 
of  memories  of  past  achievements,  had  been  saved  for 
Italy  from  the  wreck  of  the  empire.  This  very  pre- 
dominance of  Rome  deprived  the  clergy  in  other  cities 
of  Italy  of  a  portion  of  such  authority  as  they  exer- 
cised in  more  remote  localities.  The  episcopal  sees 
were,  indeed,  even  more  numerous  than  in  other  lands ; 
but  they  were  of  less  extent,  their  revenues  were  gen- 
erally of  less  amount,  and  their  bishops  rarely  pos- 
sessed that  independent  sovereign  authority  which 
those  at  a  greater  distance  from  Rome  frequently 
exercised.  Thus,  though  there  was  great  activity 
in  church- building  in  Italy  during  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries,  the  upper  clergy  had  less  to  do 
with  the  work  than  in  Germany  or  England.  It  was 
mainly  the  expression  of  the  piety  of  the  citizens  of 
towns  in  which  wealth  was  accumulating,  and  of  the 
spirit  of  a  community  animated  with  a  sense  of  inde- 
pendence and  of  strength,  and  becoming  confident  of 
perpetuity.*  The  new  cathedral  in  an  Italian  city 
was  the  witness  of  civic  as  well  as  of  religious  devo- 
tion, of  pride  and  of  patriotism  consecrated  by  piety. 

*  Muratori  remarks  on  the  display  of  piety  in  the  free  cities  after  the 
year  1000 :  "  Particolarmente  poi  dopo  1'  anno  millesimo,  e  dappoiche 
buona  parte  delle  citta  d*  Italia  riacquisto  la  liberta,  ciascuna  d'  esse 
gareggio  per  onorare  al  possibile  il  Santo  suo  tutelare."  Delle  Antichi- 
ta  Italiane,  dissert.  58,  tpmo  iii.  parte  i.  p.  241. 


22        CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

It  was  also  the  sign  of  the  favor  of  Heaven  in  the 
bestowal  of  the  prosperity  of  which  it  gave  evi- 
dence. 

While  the  common  character  of  the  prevailing  spir- 
itual influences  by  which  the  various  nations  of  Eu- 
rope were  affected  is  shown  by  this  wide-spread  zeal  in 
church-building,  a  similar  indication  of  the  common 
stage  of  development  at  which  they  had  arrived  is  af- 
forded by  the  essential  likeness  in  the  style  of  their 
edifices.  Under  the  general  likeness,  there  were,  in- 
deed, marked  varieties.  In  Venice  and  the  South  of 
Italy,  for  example,  architecture  borrowed  more  than 
in  the  rest  of  Europe  from  the  East.  In  Florence 
and  in  Rome  herself  the  tradition  of  ancient  Rome 
exercised  a  more  exclusive  influence  than  elsewhere. 
But  from  the  Duomo  of  Pisa  to  the  Cathedral  of 
Mainz,  from  the  churches  of  the  Arno  to  thosfe  of  the 
Rhine  and  the  Seine,  from  Monte -Cassino  to  Cluny 
and  Durham,  one  ruling  style  is  to  be  traced  under 
which  innumerable  differences  of  plan,  detail,  and  con- 
struction arrange  themselves  as  local  peculiarities  or 
progressive  historical  developments. 

The  name  Romanesque,  which  has  been  given  to  this 
style,  very  nearly  corresponds  with  the  term  Romance 
as  applied  to  a  group  of  languages.  It  signifies  the 
derivation  of  the  main  elements,  both  of  plan  and  of 
construction,  from  the  works  of  the  later  Roman  Em- 
pire. But  Romanesque  architecture  was  not,  as  it  has 
been  called, "  a  corrupted  imitation  of  the  Roman  archi- 


ELEMENTS  OF   THE  ROMANESQUE  STYLE.        2\ 

lecture,"*  any  more  than  the  Provencal  or  the  Italian 
language  was  a  corrupted  imitation  of  the  Latin.  It 
was  a  new  thing,  the  slowly  matured  product  of  a 
long  period  and  of  many  influences.  The  architect  of 
the  court  of  Diocletian's  great  palace  at  Spalato  and 
.the  builder  of  the  little  Duomo  of  Torcello,  though 
separated  by  seven  hundred  years,  used  similar  con- 
structive methods,  adopted  similar  forms,  and  sup- 
ported their  arches  upon  columns  in  the  same  fash- 
ion ;  but  the  work  of  one  was  classic,  of  the  other 
mediaeval.  The  outward  resemblances  are  strong, 
but  no  one  could  suppose  the  two  buildings  to  pro- 
ceed from  the  same  spirit,  or  to  express  the  sentiment 
of  the  same  age.f 

*  Whewell,  Architectural  Notes  on  German  Churches  (3d  ed.,  Cam- 
bridge, 1842),  p.  48.  In  his  omniscience,  Dr.  Whewell  included  an  un- 
usual knowledge  of  architecture.  This  book  still  retains  its  value  for 
students. 

t  The  Palace  of  Diocletian  was  built  near  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
century,  when  the  emperor,  abdicating  the  government,  retired  "  to 
grow  cabbages  "  during  his  last  years  in  his  native  province  of  Dalma- 
tia.  The  arcade  of  the  court  is  remarkable  as  one  of  the  earliest 
known  instances  of  arched  construction  in  which  the  arches  spring 
directly  from  the  capitals  of  the  columns  which  support  them.  This 
step  in  the  development  of  arched  architecture,  the  importance  of 
which  Mr.  Freeman  exaggerates  in  an  interesting  paper  on  "  The  Ori- 
gin and  Growth  of  Romanesque  Architecture,"  in  the  Fortnightly  Re- 
view, Oct.,  1872,  marks  the  point  at  which  the  builders  of  the  Middle 
Ages  took  up  the  art. 

A  fine  plate  of  the  court  is  given  by  Adam,  in  his  Ruins  of  the  Palace 
of  the  Emperor  Diocletian  at  Spalatro  (1864),  one  of  those  superb  works 
of  investigation  and  delineation  of  ancient  architecture  which,  from 
the  Antiquities  of  Athens  of  Stuart  and  Revett  to  the  Principles  of 
Athenian  Architecture  by  Penrose,  have  done  credit  to  the  energy  and 
the  learning  of  English  architects. 

The  Duomo  at  Torcello  was,  according  to  a  doubtful  tradition,  origi- 


24        CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

The  elements  of  the  construction — the  column  or 
the  pier  and  the  round  arch,  the  broad  spaces  of  solid 
walls,  and  their  strongly  marked  horizontal  lines  — 
these  and  other  features  were  common  to  the  Roman 
and  the  mediaeval  building.  But  the  members  of 
the  architecture  became  plastic  in  the  hands  of  the 
mediaeval  builders,  acquiring  new  life  and  character. 
The  arch,  as  the  controlling  element  of  the  structure, 
was  moulded  with  an  admirable  effect  unknown  to  the 
Romans.  Compelled  often  to  use  materials  of  small 
size  in  the  construction  of  arches  of  great  dimensions, 
the  mediaeval  builders  followed  the  method  of  the  ear- 
liest times — of  which  the  Cloaca  Maxima  itself  gives 
an  example — in  building  the  arches  in  rims,  or  several 
concentric  layers,  one  over  the  other,  each  layer  form- 
ing a  distinct  arch ;  but  instead  of  building  them 
square  through  the  heavy  wall,  they  made  only  the 
upper  arched  layer  of  the  full  width  of  the  wall,  and 
recessed  each  of  the  subordinate  rims,  thus  securing 
not  only  economy  of  material,  but  play  of  light  and 
shade,  a  freer  opening  for  light,  and  full  opportunity 
for  variety  of  rich  ornamentation.  The  change  thus 
introduced  was  of  far-reaching  effect.  The  support 

nally  built  in  the  seventh  century ;  it  was  restored  or  rebuilt  in  864, 
and  again  in  1008.  This  last  church  exists  essentially  unaltered,  pro- 
tected by  the  desolation  of  the  little  island  on  which  it  stands.  The 
best  account  of  it  is  in  Ruskin's  Stones  of  Venice,  vol.  ii.  ch.  ii.  See  also 
Mothes,  Baukunst  und  Bildhauerei  Venedigs  (Leipzig,  1859),  pp.  26  seq. 
When  the  Duomo  of  Torcello  was  finally  rebuilt,  Spalato  was  subject 
to  the  dominion  of  Venice.  Sanudo,  Vite  de  Duchi,  in  Muratori,  Rer. 
Ital.  Script,  torn.  xxii.  p.  468  D. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  ITALIAN  DESIGN.  25 

of  the  arch,  whether  pier  or  column,  was  shaped  to 
match  with  its  various  orders.  Each  rim  rested  on 
a  corresponding  division  of  the  support;  the  pier  was 
subdivided  to  meet  the  subordination  of  the  arch ;  the 
column,  from  being  single,  became  clustered.  The 
transformation  was  not  effected  all  at  once.  It  was  the 
result  of  experiment  on  experiment,  of  step  after  step 
of  progress.  %  And  it  was  not  a  solitary  improvement. 
The  builders  exercised  their  imagination  and  their 
reason  conjointly  on  every  part  of  the  construction.* 

In  the  matter  of  plan,  the  forms  which  the  Roman 
Christians  had  adopted  as  suitable  to  the  requirements 
of  ceremony  and  worship  were  still,  in  great  part,  fitted 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  Church  after  the  lapse  of  five 
or  six  hundred  years.  But  the  builders  of  the  eleventh 
century  did  not  simply  adopt  the  ancient  forms.  The 
plans,  no  less  than  the  construction  of  their  buildings, 
were  gradually  modified,  with  slow  development  but 
with  rational  and  regular  procedure,  in  accordance 
with  the  demands  and  the  sentiment  of  the  new  time. 

In  Italy,  where  the  tradition  of  building  on  a  great 
scale  had  never  completely  perished,  the  power  of  orig- 
inal design  and  of  skilful  execution  of  architectural 
works  displayed  itself  as  soon  as  the  new  impulse  of 
church-building  was  strongly  felt.  The  Italian  build- 
ers— or,  more  strictly,  the  Tuscan  builders — possessed 

*  The  subject  is  well  treated  from  the  architectural  point  of  view  in 
Sir  Gilbert  Scott's  Lectures  on  the  Rise  and  Development  of  Mediaeval 
Architecture  (1879),  vol.  i.  p.  223. 


26         CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

a  sense  of  dignity  of  proportion  and  of  elegance  of 
decoration  such  as  was  nowhere  else  displayed.  The 
ancient,  inextinguishable  genius  of  Etruria  shone  out 
once  more  with  pre-eminent  brightness.  The  Duomo 
of  Fiesole,  the  exquisite  Church  of  San  Miniato  al 
Monte  near  Florence,  the  Duomo  at  Pisa,  are  exam- 
ples of  the  work  of  the  Tuscan  architects  of  the 
eleventh  century.  In  other  countries  the  designs  did 
not  lack  in  grandeur,  but  they  were  less  noble  in  pro- 
portions, less  refined  in  ornament,  and  less  beautiful,  if 
not  less  impressive,  in  effect.  Everywhere  the  art 
showed  itself  capable  of  meeting  the  demand  upon 
it  for  structures  that  should  embody  in  permanent 
form  the  fervid  spirit  of  the  time.  The  education  of 
the  cloister  had  prepared  artists  competent  for  the 
work  which  was  required,  while  others  sprang  from 
among  the  laity,  trained  by  the  discipline  of  familiar 
industries.* 

*  It  has  been  asserted  by  most  writers  on  the  history  of  the  arts  of 
the  Middle  Ages  that  up  to  the  twelfth  century  the  practice  of  the  fine 
arts  was  confined  to  the  clergy.  "  Alle  Kunst  nur  von  der  Kirche,  und 
besonders  von  den  Sitzen  grosserer  Strenge,  von  den  Klostern,  aus- 
ging."  "  Jedenfalls  aber  waren  die  Kloster  und  Domschulen  die  einzi- 
gen  Bildungsstatten  der  Kiinstler."  Schnaase,  Geschichte  der  bildenden 
Kiinste  (1871),  Band  iv.  pp.  326,  327.  "  Ainsi  avant  le  douzieme  siecle 
.  .  .  1'architecture  est  dans  les  mains  du  clerge ;  .  .  .  au  treizieme  siecle, 
au  contraire,  .  .  .  1'art  de  batir  n'appartient  qu'aux  laiques."  Vitet, 
Etudes  sur  I'Histoire  de  I' Art,  deuxieme  serie,  Notre-Dame  de  Noyon, 
p.  131.  That  most  of  the  culture  of  the  age,  including  that  of  the  fine 
arts,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy  is  unquestionably  true.  The  clois- 
ter supplied  many  of  the  architects,  painters,  sculptors,  overseers  of 
works,  and  even  many  of  the  workmen  themselves.  But  at  no  time 
were  lay  artists  wholly  wanting.  Springer,  in  his  treatise  De  Artifici- 
bus  Monachis  et  Laicis  Medii  jEvi  (1861),  gives  a  large  selection  of  ex- 


PROGRESS  OF  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE.     2J 

In  the  history  of  architecture  there  are  few  passages 
of  study  more  interesting  than  that  of  the  development 
of  the  various  forms  of  Romanesque,  and  of  the  grad- 
ual evolution,  in  the  course  of  the  twelfth  century,  of  the 
new  forms  and  principles  of  the  Gothic  style.  There 
are  no  gaps  in  the  record  of  this  progress.  From  the 
vast  Romanesque  church  of  the  mighty  Benedictine 
Abbey  of  Cluny,  through  the  multitude  of  the  churches 
of  the  Cistercian  Order  erected  in  the  early  part  of  the 
twelfth  century,  to  the  famous  church  built  by  the  great 
Abbot  Suger  at  St.  Denis,  the  increasing  use  of  the 
pointed  arch  is  to  be  clearly  traced,  from  its  first  timid 
employment  in  construction,  till  it  appears  where  no 
constructive  advantage  is  gained  by  it,  and  the  choice 
marks  a  change  not  only  of  method  but  also  of  taste. 
And  then,  from  St.  Denis  and  Vezelay  to  the  cathedrals 
of  the  lie  de  France,  the  supremacy  of  this  arch  asserts 
itself  more  and  more,  modifying  every  portion  of  the 
structure  in  conformity  with  its  imperative  lines,  until 
the  whole  is  changed  into  the  new  style,  and  Gothic 
architecture  stands  complete.  The  course  of  this 
transformation  was  no  less  regular  than  rapid.  Each 
step  of  progress  was  based  on  intelligent  application 
of  principle.  The  builder  was  at  once  artist  and 
man  of  science,  and  one  knows  not  which  to  admire 

tracts  from  inscriptions  and  documents  in  proof  of  this  fact.  The  pro- 
portion of  lay  artists  increased  in  the  twelfth  century.  As  a  broad 
statement,  it  may  be  said  that  Romanesque  art  mainly  proceeded  from 
the  clergy,  while  Gothic  art  received  its  fullest  development  from  the 
hands  of  lay  artists. 


28        CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

most  —  the  imagination  in  the  design,  or  the  inven- 
tion and  intelligence  in  the  accomplishment  of  the 
work. 

Never  did  the  varied  thoughts,  the  complex  senti- 
ments, the  multiplied  fancies  and  emotions  of  a  sensi- 
tive, active,  and  passionate  age,  find  such  complete, 
such  superb  expression  as  within  the  hundred  and 
fifty  years  from  1150  to  1 300 ;  for  the  building  of 
church  or  cathedral  had  now  become  not  only  the 
work  of  religious  zeal  or  patriotic  enthusiasm,  but  also 
of  poetic  inspiration.  The  sense  of  beauty,  which 
had  been  weak,  through  want  of  nurture,  during  the 
Dark  Ages  before  the  eleventh  century,  had  gradu- 
ally grown  stronger  and  stronger,  till  at  length  the 
love  of  beauty  had  become  a  controlling  motive  of  ex- 
pression, and  gave  direction  to  the  moral  and  intellect- 
ual energies  called  into  play  by  religious  or  patriotic 
sentiment.  The  mediaeval  ideal  of  beauty  was,  indeed, 
not  less  narrow  than  the  moral  ideal  of  the  time,  but 
it  was  not  less  genuine.  It  did  not  embrace  the  whole 
creation ;  it  was  perverted  by  ascetic  prepossessions 
and  by  superstitious  fears.  But  men  had  begun  to 
feel  anew  the  pleasantness  of  the  world,  to  take  fresh 
delight  in  the  flowers  of  the  field,  in  the  song  of  birds, 
in  the  grace  of  the  body  and  the  charm  of  human 
expression,  in  the  splendor  of  colors  and  the  play  of 
lights  and  shadows,  in  the  harmonies  and  contrasts  of 
line,  in  symmetries  of  form.  This  reawakened  sense  of 
beauty,  which  in  most  men  was  still  vague,  illusory, 


RESULT  OF  THE  STUDY  OF  NATURE.  29 

undefined,  filled  the  consciousness  of  the  artist  with 
definite  conceptions  capable  of  realization  in  his  art. 
He  thus  became  the  interpreter  to  itself  of  his  own 
generation.  In  the  fullest  sympathy  with  his  con- 
temporaries, because  the  sources  of  his  inspiration 
were  the  natural  sources  of  spiritual  life  common  to 
them  and  to  him,  but  from  which  he  drew  more  deep- 
ly than  the  rest,  he  revealed  their  own  inward  selves, 
and  enlarged  the  scope  of  their  imaginings.  There 
was  nothing  of  classic  idealism  in  his  work ;  it  wras 
modern  and  romantic  in  the  sense  that  in  it  the  matter 
predominated  over  the  form.  Its  moral  import  was, 
indeed,  his  chief  concern ;  and  his  work  at  its  best 
illustrates,  with  peculiar  simplicity  and  distinctness, 
the  truth  which  has  determined  the  character  of 
all  supreme  artistic  production  —  that  in  the  highest 
forms  of  human  expression  morality  and  beauty  are 
inseparable. 

The  love  of  beauty,  the  charm  of  the  beauty  in  the 
wrorld,  had  led  him  to  the  study  of  nature,  and  the  re- 
sult of  this  study  was  apparent  in  his  work.  Directly 
displayed  in  sculpture  and  in  painting,  it  showed  itself 
in  architecture  so  far  as  these  arts  were  called  into  its 
service ;  and  never  had  they  contributed  to  enhance 
its  power  and  effect  to  the  degree  in  which  they  con- 
tributed during  the  great  period  of  Gothic  building. 
The  efforts  of  the  Gothic  designer  to  conform  his 
works  to  nature  often  fell  short  of  their  aim.  His 
power  of  execution  was  often  inferior  to  his  concep- 


30       CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

tion.  He  was  an  apprentice,  not  yet  a  master,  in  the 
rendering  of  the  aspects  of  man  and  the  outer  world. 
But  he  rejected  the  conventional  types  of  representa- 
tion transmitted  from  his  predecessors,  substituting  for 
them  his  own  fresh  delineations,  the  expression  of  an 
immediate  and  individual  sentiment.  It  was  no  won- 
der that  his  art  touched  and  excited  the  susceptible 
feelings  of  simple  beholders,  moving  them  to  penitence 
and  tears,  or  to  unwonted  gladness  and  hope.* 

The  field  for  the  exercise  of  the  arts,  thus  inspired 
with  creative  impulse,  was  by  no  means  limited  to  the 
Church.  Architecture,  sculpture,  and  painting  were 
employed  in  secular  no  less  than  in  religious  build- 
ings, in  the  castle  of  the  noble  and  in  the  house  of 
the  burgher.f 

The  spirit  of  art  penetrated  every  department  of  life, 

*  "  Et  videmus  aliquando  simplices  et  idiotas  qui  verbis  vix  ad  fidem 
gestorum  possunt  perduci,  ex  pictura  passionis  Dominican  vel  aliorum 
mirabilium  ita  compungi,  ut  lachrymis  testentur  exteriores  figuras 
cordi  suo  impressas."  Walafrid  Strabo,  De  Officits  Divinis,  sive  de 
Ecdesiasticarum  Rerum  Exordiis  et  Increments,  cap.  viii. ;  in  Migne, 
Patrologice  Cursus  Completus,  torn,  cxiii.  Walafrid  Strabo  wrote  in  the 
ninth  century,  but  his  testimony  is  good  for  a  later  time. 

t  "  It  was  a  great  period,"  says  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  "  and  its  greatness 
seemed  to  pervade  even  the  most  secluded  districts.  .  .  .  Let  us  not 
imagine  that  the  architecture  of  the  age  developed  itself  only  in  cathe- 
drals, abbeys,  or  churches  of  any  kind ;  all  other  buildings  evince  the 
same  spirit.  A  barn  of  the  thirteenth  century  shows  the  nobleness  of 
the  pervading  style  as  clearly  as  even  the  cathedral  itself,  and  what  re- 
mains of  their  \sic\  domestic  architecture  tells  the  same  tale.  Every- 
thing was  done  well,  in  good  taste,  and  in  accordance  with  reasonable 
and  practical  requirements  and  the  means  at  command."  Lectures  on 
Mediceval  Architecture,  vol.  i.  p.  203.  Sir  Gilbert's  wide  acquaintance 
with  Romanesque  and  Gothic  work  in  England  gives  value  to  his  as- 
sertion. 


LACK  OF  CONTEMPORARY  DESCRIPTION.          31 

and  gave  form  to  all  the  products  of  design.  There 
is  a  solidarity  in  the  arts ;  they  do  not  flourish  in  iso- 
lated independence.  So  at  this  time  art  exhibited  it- 
self in  the  least  no  less  than  in  the  greatest  things,  in 
the  articles  of  common  use  as  well  as  of  display — in 
the  weaving  and  embroidery  of  stuffs ;  in  the  shape  and 
ornament  of  dress ;  in  metal-work  of  all  sorts — the  work 
of  the  blacksmith  no  less  than  of  the  goldsmith  ;  in  ar- 
mor ;  in  jewelry ;  in  articles  for  the  service  of  the  table 
or  the  altar ;  in  the  wood-work  of  the  carpenter  and 
the  joiner ;  in  the  calligraphy  and  illumination  of  man- 
uscripts. Whatever  the  hand  found  to  do,  that  it  did 
under  the  guidance  of  artistic  fancy  and  feeling. 

But  it  was  in  the  great  church  edifice  that  many 
arts  were  united,  as  in  no  other  work,  in  a  single  joint 
and  indivisible  product  of  their  highest  energies.  From 
the  pavement  rich  with  mosaic  of  tile  or  marble,  or 
inlaid  with  the  sepulchral  slabs  of  those  who  in  life 
had  knelt  upon  it,  up  to  the  cross  that  gleamed  on 
the  airy  summit  of  the  central  spire,  each  separate 
feature,  instinct  with  the  life  of  art,  contributed  to  the 
organic  unity  of  the  consummate  masterpiece  of  crea- 
tive imagination.  Religious  enthusiasm,  patriotic  pride, 
the  strongest  sentiments  of  the  community,  the  deep- 
est feelings  of  each  individual,  found  here  their  most 
poetic  expression. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  of  buildings  so  remark- 
able as  these — buildings  which  occupied  so  large  a 
place  in  the  thoughts  and  labors  of  the  generations  by 


32        CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

which  they  were  erected,  and  in  which  the  faith  of 
the  time  found  its  most  complete  visible  expression — 
full  accounts  would  have  come  down  to  us  from  those 
who  were  engaged  in  or  who  witnessed  their  construc- 
tion. One  might  expect  that  all  that  related  to  monu- 
ments so  important,  by  which  the  aspect  of  the  land- 
scape was  changed,  and  which  formed  the  most  prom- 
inent object  in  city  and  country,  would  have  been  de- 
scribed in  detail  by  contemporaries  who  beheld  them 
rise  and  shared  in  the  emotions  from  which  they  pro- 
ceeded. But  such  is  not  the  case.*  Little  informa- 
tion concerning  them,  compared  with  their  social  and 
historical  importance,  has  come  down  to  us  from  the 
period  of  which  they  are  the  most  impressive  and  in- 
structive memorials.  Such  reference  as  is  made  to 
them  in  the  annals  of  the  times  is  seldom  more  than  a 
brief  and  often  untrustworthy  record  of  dates,  or  a  nar- 
rative of  some  miracle  by  which  the  work  was  favored, 
or  a  dry  notice  of  some  trifling  incident  of  the  con- 
struction. Even  the  poets  fail  to  show  sympathy  with 
the  popular  emotion  as  expressed  in  these  creations 
of  the  imagination.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  intensity 
of  the  motive  of  these  works  interfered  with  attention 
to  the  works  themselves.  Most  of  the  mediaeval  ro- 

*  "  Ce  qui  est  rare,  ce  qui  est  merveilleux,  c'est  une  eglise  que  ses 
contemporains  aient  regarde  batir  et  sur  laquelle  ils  aient  bien  voulu 
nous  laisser  des  notions  exactes  et  precises."  Vitet,  Etudes,  "  Notre- 
Dame  de  Noyon,"  p.  1 5.  "  Si  Ton  cherche  dans  le  Cartulaire  des  ren- 
seignements  relatifs  a  la  construction  de  1'eglise  de  Notre-Dame,  on  est 
surpris  de  n'en  trouver  d'aucune  espece."  Guerard,  Cartulaire  de 
I' Eglise  Notre-Dame  de  Paris,  torn.  i.  pref.  §  52,  p.  clxvii. 


NOTICES  IN  THE  ROMANCES.  23 

mances  did  not,  indeed,  receive  their  final  literary  form 
till  after  the  strong  impulse  of  building  had  passed  its 
height.  But  it  is  curious  how  little  illustration  they 
afford  of  contemporary  art.  Now  and  then,  however, 
they  give  us  a  picture  in  which  the  artistic  aspect  of 
the  time  is  reproduced.  In  one  of  the  most  popular  of 
the  early  French  romances,  that  of  Renaut  de  Mon- 
tauban,  the  hero,  after  a  life  of  adventure,  goes  in  dis- 
guise to  Cologne,  and  there,  in  order  to  save  his  soul, 
engages  as  a  common  workman  on  the  Cathedral. 
The  account  of  his  hiring,  of  his  labor  in  carrying 
stone  and  mortar,  of  the  way  of  life  of  the  workmen,  of 
the  jealousy  he  excites  among  them,  and  of  his  death 
at  their  hands,  is  full  of  interest  in  its  picturesque 
detail.*  In  the  later  romance  of  Gerard  de  Roussil- 
lon  there  is  a  long  narrative  of  the  foundation  of  the 
beautiful  church  at  Vezelay,  in  honor  of  St.  Mary 
Magdalen,  and  of  the  forwarding  of  the  building  by 
the  Countess  Beatrice,  the  wife  of  Gerard.  Like  Re- 
naut, the  Countess  labored  with  her  own  hands,  and 
in  such  a  spirit  that  a  miracle,  of  which  her  husband 
was  witness,  gave  proof  of  the  favor  and  of  the  power 
of  Heaven.f  But  these  romantic  episodes  do  not  sup- 
ply the  place  of  connected  description. 

*  Renaus  de  Montauban  (ed.  Michelant,  Stuttgart,  1862),  pp.  445-450. 

t  Gtrart  de  Rossillon  (ed.  Francisque  Michel,  Paris,  1856),  pp.  267-276. 
The  story  is  told  at  length  in  this  Provencal  version  of  the  Romance. 
In  the  version  in  the  langue  d'Oc  it  is  narrated  more  briefly,  and  with 
different  circumstances ;  see  Girart  de  Rossillon  (ed.  Mignard,  Paris, 
1858),  pp.  229-233. 

3 


34        CHURCH-BUILDING  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

To  this  general  lack  of  full  information  there  are  a 
few  notable  exceptions.  The  Abbot  Suger's  vivid  ac- 
count of  his  rebuilding  of  the  famous  Abbey  Church  of 
St.  Denis,  dedicated  in  1144;*  the  letter  of  the  Abbot 
Haimon  concerning  the  building  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Pierre  sur  Dives,t  and  that  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Rouen  (in  1145)  in  regard  to  the  emotion  in  his  diocese 
at  the  time  of  the  building  of  the  old  Cathedral  at 
Chartres  \\  the  poem  of  Jehan  le  Marchant  on  the 
Miracles  of  Our  Lady  in  the  rebuilding  of  the  Cathe- 
dral in  ii94;§  the  monk  Gervase's  description  of  the 
rebuilding  of  Canterbury  Cathedral  after  its  destruc- 
tion by  fire  in  1 174)! — are,  each  in  its  kind,  of  the  high- 
est interest,  as  giving  information  concerning  the  mo- 
tives and  the  methods  of  the  builders  of  the  respec- 
tive works,  as  well  as  in  throwing  light  upon  the  gen- 
eral spiritual  conditions  of  the  times. 

In  regard  to  some  of  the  great  churches,  the  records 
of  building  have  been  preserved  with  more  or  less 

*  Libellus  de  consecratione  ecclesice  a  se  certificates,  etc.,  in  Duchesne, 
Hist.  Fran.  Script,  torn.  iv.  pp.  350-359. 

t  Fragments  of  this  interesting  letter  are  in  Mabillon,  Annales  Ord. 
S.  Benedicti,  torn.  vi.  pp.  393  sqq.  It  was  first  printed  complete  by  M. 
Leopold  Delisle  in  the  Bibliotheque  de  I'Ecole  des  Chartes,  5e  serie,  vol. 
i.,  Paris,  1860. 

\  Mabillon,  Annales  Ord.  S.  Benedicti,  torn.  vi.  p.  328. 

§  Le  Livre  des  Miracles  de  Notre-Dame  de  Chartres,  par  Jehan  Le 
Marchant.  Public  pour  la  premiere  fois  par  M.  G.  Duplessis,  Chartres, 
1855. 

||  Tractatus  de  combustione  et  reparatione  Dorobornensis  ecclesice,  in 
Twysden,  Hist.  Anglic.  Script,  pp.  1285-1303.  An  excellent  translation 
of  this  important  little  work  is  given  by  Professor  Willis  in  his  admira- 
ble Architectural  History  of  Canterbury  Cathedral,  London,  1845. 


LACK  OF  AMPLE  INFORMATION.  35 

completeness ;  and  when  the  church  was  the  work  of  a 
civic  community,  the  civic  records  in  some  instances 
afford  the  material  for  its  history.  But,  with  all  these 
aids,  the  supply  of  information  concerning  the  course, 
character,  and  results  of  the  great  movement  of  the 
human  spirit  which  took  form  in  the  church-building 
of  the  Middle  Ages  is  far  less  abundant  than  could  be 
desired. 


n 
VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S 


II. 

VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

No  city  in  the  world  appeals  more  strongly  to  the 
poetic  imagination  than  Venice.  Her  site,  her  people, 
her  history,  her  institutions,  her  art,  are  all  alike  unique. 
Appearing  first  as  a  little  group  of  fishermen's  huts  on 
a  sand-bank  in  the  midst  of  a  waste  of  waters,  her  soli- 
tude and  her  humility  afforded  protection  to  successive 
bands  of  exiles  flying  from  ancienj:  cities  of  the  main- 
land to  escape  from  the  scourge  of  the  Northern  bar- 
barians, who  thronged  through  the  passes  of  the  East- 
ern Alps  to  share  in  the  spoils  of  the  ruined  empire  of 
Rome.  Secure  within  her  broad  moat  of  waves,  her 
foundations  were  firmly  set.*  Rising  in  the  dawn,  of 
modern  Europe,  she  linked  the  tradition  of  the  old 
civilization  to  the  fresh  conditions  of  the  new.  In- 
dependent from  the  first,  her  people  framed  and  ad- 
ministered their  own  institutions.  The  destiny  that 
ruled  her  beginnings  seemed,  as  she  grew,  to  have 
had  no  element  of  chance,  but  to  have  been  de- 
termined by  foresight  and  wise  counsel.  Her  posi- 

*  "  Haec  Celebris  et  inclyta  civitas  pro  pavimento  mare,  pro  muro 
aquas  maris,  et  pro  tecto  ccelum  habet."  Durantino,  De  Amplissimis 
Laudibus  Veneta  Urbis  (1522),  p.  36  b. 


40  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

tion  was  unrivalled.  She  lay  fronting  the  East,  and 
the  Adriatic  opened  before  her  a  broad  pathway  for 
commerce  and  for  conquest,  while  tributary  rivers  on 
either  hand  brought  the  trade  of  the  Western  main- 
land to  her  gates. 

In  the  character  of  her  people,  intelligence  and  en- 
ergy were  combined  with  fancy  and  sentiment  as  in  no 
other  Western  race.  Her  statesmen  were  the  ablest, 
her  merchants  the  most  adventurous  and  the  most 
successful,  her  seamen  the  boldest,  her  craftsmen  the 
most  skilful  of  their  time.  Her  artists  were  quick  to 
give  fine  expression  to  the  new  moods  of  the  Middle 
Ages ;  her  gentlemen  were  the  first  in  Europe,  and  the 
first  modern  ladies  were  Venetian.  She  lacked,  how- 
ever, a  poet.  Her  life  and  feeling  found  utterance  in 
other  modes  of  art.  She  was  her  own  poem. 

The  affection  in  which  she  was  held  by  her  people 
had  the  depth  and  intensity  of  a  passion.  The  large 
spirit  of  national  patriotism  was  hardly  felt  in  Italy 
during  the  Middle  Ages.  Its  place  was  occupied  by 
a  narrow  local  sentiment  which  the  natural  and  polit- 
ical divisions  of  the  land  stimulated  often  to  a  degree 
fatal  to  peace,  to  prosperity,  even  to  honor.  But  in 
Venice  this  local  spirit  was  justified  by  the  peculiar 
conditions  of  her  existence.  She  was  nation  as  well  as 
city  to  her  people.  "  First  Venetians  and  then  Chris- 
tians" was  a  saying  which  stood  her  in  good  stead. 
First  Venetians  and  then  Italians  was  the  abiding  sense 
of  her  citizens.  Cut  off  by  the  sea  from  the  mainland, 


THE  COMMERCE  OF  VENICE.  4! 

she  held  herself  aloof,  and  through  all  her  better  days 
it  was  her  steady  policy  to  keep  herself  free  from  entan- 
gling alliance  with  any  of  the  Italian  states. 

Her  interests  lay  upon  the  sea,  and  she  sought  to 
extend  her  dominion  over  the  islands  and  coasts  of  the 
Adriatic  and  the  /Egean,  over  Crete  and  Cyprus,  and 
to  obtain  settlement  and  power  still  farther  east,  rather 
than  to  increase  her  Italian  territory.  Her  close  re- 
lations with  the  East  affected  the  character  and  tem- 
per of  her  people.*  The  commerce  with  distant  and 
strange  lands  developed  in  the  Venetians  not  only  fore- 
sight and  gravity  of  counsel,  strength  of  purpose,  steadi- 
ness of  will,  firmness  in  peril,  and  calmness  in  success, 
but  also  the  love  of  adventure,  the  taste  for  splendor, 
the  sense  of  color,  and  a  capacity  for  romantic  emo- 
tion. The  charm  and  mystery  of  the  East  pervaded 
the  atmosphere  of  Venice.  Mere  trade  became  poetic 
while  dealing  with  the  spices  of  Arabia,  the  silks  of 
Damascus,  the  woven  stuffs  of  Persia,  the  pearls  of 
Ceylon,  or  the  rarer  products  of  the  wonderful  regions 
whence  travellers  like  Marco  Polo  brought  back  true 
stories  that  rivalled  the  inventions  of  Arabian  story- 
tellers. The  ships  of  Venice  were  the  signiors 
and  rich  burghers  of  the  sea.  Refinement  increased 
with  wealth;  and  while  the  feudal  nobles  of  the  main- 

*  The  trade  of  Venice  with  the  East  began  very  early.  The  Monk 
of  St.  Gall,  in  his  account  of  Charlemagne,  written  near  the  end  of  the 
ninth  century,  speaks  of  the  Venetians  in  the  days  of  Charlemagne 
bringing  "  de  transmarinis  partibus  omnes  Orientalium  divitias."  De 
Gestts  Carolt  Magni,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxvii, 


4  2  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

land  were  still  half  barbaric  in  thought  and  custom,  the 
civic  nobles  of  Venice  had  acquired  a  culture  that  iso- 
lated them  still  more  than  they  were  separated  by  po- 
sition and  material  interest  from  the  natives  of  other 
cities. 

Moreover,  all  that  the  Venetians  acquired,  whether 
of  wealth  or  culture,  was  concentrated  within  the  limits 
of  their  single  city,  and  became  an  ever-accumulating 
heirloom  transmitted  from  one  generation  to  another. 
Seldom  did  civil  discords  and  tumults,  such  as  many  a 
time  devastated  every  other  city  of  Italy,  disturb  her 
tranquillity ;  no  factions  of  Guelf  and  Ghibelline,  of  Neri 
and  Bianchi,  divided  her  people  into  hostile  camps; 
no  army  of  barbarian  invaders  or  of  jealous  neighbors 
ever  sacked  her  houses  or  wasted  her  stores ;  no  siege 
ever  distressed  her.  And  thus  she  grew  from  age  to 
age  in  beauty  as  in  strength.  Her  citizens  were  the 
first  people  of  the  modern  world  to  acquire  confidence 
in  the  perpetuity  not  only  of  the  State,  but  of  their  per- 
sonal possessions.  Secure  under  just  laws  against  do- 
mestic oppression,  safe  within  the  intrenchment  lines 
of  the  lagoons,  they  built  for  themselves  homes  sur- 
passing in  stateliness  and  in  beauty  any  homes  of  pri- 
vate men  that  the  world  had  seen — homes  not  only 
correspondent  to  their  own  love  of  splendor  and  of 
comfort,  but  to  the  lofty  genius  of  the  city.* 

*  The  Casa  Dario  on  the  Grand  Canal,  near  San  Gregorio,  built  about 
1486,  one  of  the  most  elegant  of  the  smaller  palaces  of  the  Renais- 
sance, bears  on  its  fagade  the  characteristic  inscription  "  URBIS  GENIO 

JOANNES    DARIUS." 


FAITH  OF  VENETIANS  IN  VENICE.  43 

The  perpetuity  of  Venice  was  a  fixed  part  of  the 
patriotic  pride  of  her  people.  "  Imperium  stabile,  per- 
petuum,  et  mansurum,"  says  Sabellico,  the  first  of  the 
official  historians  of  the  republic ;  and  Sansovino,  writ- 
ing seventy  years  later,  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  begins  his  description  of  the  government  of 
Venice  with  these  confident  words :  "  The  Republic  of 
Venice,  surpassing  all  other  states  in  grandeur,  nobil- 
ity, wealth,  and  every  quality  that  may  conduce  to  the 
felicity  of  man,  hath  divers  members,  all  well  ordered, 
as  is  plainly  evident,  since  through  their  good  disposi- 
tion it  hath  endured  for  one  thousand  one  hundred 
and  sixty- five  years,  and  gives  sign,  moreover,  that  it 
will  endure  forever."  *  Forever  is  the  vainest  word  of 
man,  but  the  glories  of  Venice  might  well  seem  sub- 
stantial, permanent,  secure.  Who  could  foresee  that 
the  day  was  soon  to  come  when  but  "  gleaning  grapes 
should  be  left  in  her,  as  the  shaking  of  an  olive-tree, 
two  or  three  berries  in  the  top  of  the  uppermost  bough, 
four  or  five  in  the  outmost  fruitful  branches  thereof," 
and  that  it  was  only  in  memory  and  imagination  she 
was  to  endure  forever  ? 

With  such  faith  in  their  city,  and  such  reason  for  it, 
and  with  affection  for  her  quickened  by  the  constant 
appeal  of  her  material  beauty,  it  was  not  strange  that 

*  F.  Sansovino,  Del  Governo  de  Regni  et  delle  Republiche.  Venetia, 
1567,  p.  169.  All  her  writers  celebrated  the  city  "quse  omnium  bo- 
norum  amplitudine  atque  ubertate  florescit  in  dies ;"  "  domina  canta- 
tissima,"  ..."  qua  nihil  majus,  nihil  excellentius,  nihil  sanctius  in  toto 
orbe  reperiri  potest." 


44  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

in  the  imaginations  of  her  people  Venice  became  per- 
sonified as  a  half-divine  ideal  figure.  She  is  the  only 
city  of  modern  times  that  has  shared,  and  has  de- 
served to  share,  this  distinction  with  Rome  and  the 
other  great  cities  of  the  ancient  world.  A  mytholog- 
ic  legend  concerning  her  origin  and  destiny  gradu- 
ally formed  itself,  in  which  Christian  and  pagan  sym- 
bols were  curiously  intermingled,  and  which  the  Re- 
naissance found  half  ready  to  its  hand  when,  in  ac- 
cordance with  its  general  spirit,  it  proceeded  to  intro- 
duce the  deities  of  Olympus,  in  harmonious  co-opera- 
tion with  the  Virgin  and  the  saints,  for  the  protection 
and  exaltation  of  the  favored  city.  In  almost  every 
other  city  of. Italy — in  Verona,  in  Mantua,  in  Florence, 
in  Siena,  in  Padua — the  popular  tradition,  cherished 
alike  by  chroniclers,  poets,  and  artists,  connected  the 
origin  or  the  legendary  fortunes  of  the  town  with 
royal,  republican,  or  imperial  Rome.  Rome  filled  the 
imagination  of  mediaeval  Italy.  Her  eagle  still 

"Governo  1'  mondo  li  di  mano  in  mano." 

She  was  mistress  of  all  Italy  except  Venice.  Here 
she  had  no  dominion. 

Christian  to  her  core,  devout  in  spirit,  her  history 
abounding  in  miracles,  her  imagination  touched  by  do- 
mestic legends  of  saints  and  relics,  Venice  was  yet  as 
independent  in  her  ecclesiastical  relations  as  in  her 
civil  administration.  The  authority  of  the  Pope,  re- 
vered and  acknowledged  in  all  matters  of  faith,  was 


ST.  MARK'S  RELATION  TO   VENICE.  45 

steadily  and  successfully  resisted  in  all  matters  that 
pertained  to  her  own  domain.  She  chose  her  own 
bishops;  her  priests  were  her  own  citizens.  She  ad- 
mitted no  divided  claim  to  allegiance,  and  would  en- 
dure no  subordination  of  her  authority,  even  in  the 
Church,  to  that  of  Rome.  Her  Church  was  Venetian, 
and  not  Roman,  and  that  it  was  so  only  increased  the 
fervor  and  constancy  of  her  piety. 

In  the  very  heart  of  this  unique  and  splendid  city, 
and  worthy  of  the  city  of  which  it  was  the  most  sacred 
and  superb  adornment,  rose  the  church  of  her  patron 
saint.  Her  treasure  was  lavished  here,  and  her  wealth 
consecrated;  here  her  piety,  her  pride,  her  imagina- 
tion, found  expression,  and  here  was  the  symbol  of  her 
power.  It  was  under  the  banner  that  bore  the  winged 
lion  of  St.  Mark  that  she  won  her  victories  and  extend- 
ed her  dominion.  The  saint  to  her  was  more  than  St. 
George  to  England,  or  St.  Denis  to  France,  or  St.  John 
the  Baptist  to  Florence,  or  St.  Peter  to  Rome.  He  was 
specially  her  own;  for,  according  to  the  tradition  which 
she  cherished,  she  had  been  destined  by  the  will  of 
Heaven,  long  before  she  rose  from  the  sea,  to  receive 
and  guard  the  body  of  the  saint,  and  to  flourish  under 
his  effectual  protection.  She  believed,  though  the  leg- 
end was  never  received  by  the  Church  Universal,  that 
St.  Mark  had  been  sent  by  St.  Peter  as  apostle  to 
Aquileja,  and  that  on  his  return  to  Rome  his  bark, 
driven  by  the  wind,  came  to  a  landing  on  the  low  isl- 
and which  was  the  first  site  of  the  City  of  the  Lagoons. 


46  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

Here,  while  he  was  rapt  in  ecstasy,  an  angel  of  the 
Lord  appeared  to  him  and  said,  "  Pax  tibi,  Marce.  Hie 
requiescet  corpus  timm."  (Peace  be  with  thee,  Mark. 
Here  shall  thy  body  rest)  The  angel  went  on  to 
prophesy  that  a  devout  and  faithful  people  would  here, 
after  many  years,  build  a  marvellous  city  (miriftcam 
urbem),  and  would  deserve  to  possess  the  body  of  the 
saint,  and  that  through  his  merits  and  prayers  they 
would  be  greatly  blessed.* 

St.  Mark  was  martyred  and  buried  in  Alexandria. 
Centuries  passed.  Venice  had  founded  herself  solid- 
ly upon  the  sand  heaps  of  the  Rivo  Alto  and  the  salt 
marshes  around  it.  She  was  gaining  consciousness  of 
independence  and  strength,  and  her  people  had  estab- 
lished for  themselves  a  settled  social  and  political  or- 
der under  which  they  were  prospering,  when,  accord- 
ing to  another  popular  legend,  in  the  year  829,  two 
Venetian  merchants,  Buono,  Tribune  of  Malamocco, 
and  Rustico,  of  Torcello,  sailing  in  the  Mediterranean 
with  their  vessels,  for  the  purposes  of  trade,  were  driven 
by  stress  of  weather  to  take  harbor  in  the  port  of 
Alexandria.  There  was  an  edict  at  this  time  forbid- 
ding the  Venetians  to  have  any  dealings  with  the  Sar- 
acens, or  to  repair  to  their  ports.  The  Venetian  mer- 

*  Andreae  Danduli  Chronicon,  in  Muratori,  Rer.  Ital.  Script,  xii.  col. 
14.  This  chronicle  of  the  Doge  Andrea  Dandolo,  who  died  in  1354,  is 
one  of  the  chief  and  best  sources  of  information  concerning  the  early 
history  of  Venice.  "  A  man  early  great  among  the  great  of  Venice," 
says  Mr.  Ruskin,  "  to  whose  history  we  owe  half  of  what  we  know  of 
her  former  fortunes."  Stones  of  Ventce,\o\.  ii.  ch.  iv.  He  was  the  friend 
and  correspondent  of  Petrarch. 


ST.  MARK'S  BOD Y  AT  ALEXANDRIA.  47 

chants,  compelled  to  seek  safety  in  Alexandria,  visited 
the  church  in  which  the  bones  of  St.  Mark  were  pre- 
served and  venerated.  It  happened  that  at  this  time  a 
certain  Regulus,  a  ruler  over  the  Saracens,  was  build- 
ing a  splendid  palace  in  the  city  of  Cairo,  and  was  seek- 
ing for  columns  and  slabs  of  marble  for  its  adornment, 
taking  them  from  sacred  no  less  than  profane  edifices. 
The  guardians  of  the  church  where  the  relics  of  St. 
Mark  were  worshipped  were  in  fear  lest  it  might  be  de- 
spoiled and  desecrated,  and  the  Venetian  traders,  find- 
ing them  depressed  and  anxious,  proposed  to  them  se- 
cretly that  they  should  allow  the  body  of  the  saint  to 
be  carried  to  Venice,  where  the  angel  of  the  Lord  had 
prophesied  it  would  find  its  final  resting-place.  This 
they  did  in  the  hope  that  by  carrying  home  so  precious 
a  treasure  their  disobedience  of  the  edict  against  visit- 
ing the  ports  of  the  Saracens  might  be  atoned  for  and 
forgiven.  After  long  and  doubtful  debate,  Staurazio,  a 
monk,  and  Teodoro,  a  priest  of  the  church,  consented 
to  the  proposal.  But  they  feared  the  wrath  of  the  peo- 
ple if  the  removal  of  the  relics  should  be  discovered. 
The  body  of  the  saint,  wound  in  silken  wrappings  of 
which  the  edges  were  sealed,  lay  within  a  shrine.  To 
conceal  its  removal,  the  wrappings  were  cut  open  be- 
hind, and  the  body  of  Santa  Claudia  was  artfully  sub- 
stituted for  that  of  St.  Mark ;  so  that  when,  attracted 
by  a  sweet  and  pungent  odor  diffused  from  the  dis- 
placed relics,  the  faithful  flocked  to  the  altar,  no  trace 
of  the  pious  fraud  was  visible.  In  the  darkness  of 


48  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

night  and  the  fury  of  a  miraculous  tempest,  the  body, 
placed  in  a  basket  and  covered  with  leaves  upon  which 
was  laid  a  quantity  of  pork,  was  carried  from  the  church 
to  one  of  the  vessels.  Certain  officers  of  the  Saracens, 
seeing  the  Christians  bearing  away  this  load  at  this 
strange  time,  were  fain  to  know  what  it  was,  and,  open- 
ing the  basket  and  finding  the  swine's  flesh,  turned 
from  it  in  disgust  and  allowed  the  sacred  burden  to  pass 
on  its  way.  The  voyage  to  Venice  witnessed  many 
miracles,  which  gave  assurance  of  the  willingness  of 
the  saint  to  be  transferred  to  his  destined  abode.  Par- 
don for  their  disobedience  was  readily  granted  to 
the  merchants  in  consideration  of  the  priceless  gift 
which  they  brought,  and  the  Doge  Giustiniano  Par- 
tecipazio  went,  accompanied  by  the  clergy,  to  the 
vessel,  and  with  greatest  reverence  bore  the  holy  rel- 
ics to  the  ducal  chapel,  where  they  were  deposited 
till  a  more  fitting  resting-place  could  be  prepared  for 
them.* 

*  Acta  Sanctorum,  Aprilis,  torn.  iii.  April.  25,  pp.  353-355.  Danduli 
Chronicon,  col.  172.  Marin  Sanudo,  Vite  de  Duchi  di  Venezia,  in  Mura- 
tori,  Rer.  Ital.  Script,  torn.  xxii.  col.  452.  The  removal  of  the  body  of  the 
saint  through  the  streets  of  Alexandria  in  the  midst  of  the  storm,  and 
the  rescue  of  a  Saracen  seaman  from  drowning  by  the  interposition 
of  the  saint  on  the  voyage  to  Venice,  are  the  subjects  of  two  splendid 
pictures  by  Tintoretto,  alike  imaginative  in  the  conception  and  mag- 
nificent in  the  rendering  of  the  scenes.  Of  the  last,  Boschini,  in  his 
precious  little  volume  Le  Ricche  Minere  della  Pittura  Veneziana,  says, 
what  was  true  till  Turner  painted,  "  Chi  cio  non  vede,  non  sa  cosa  sia 
spavento  di  mare."  These  pictures  were  painted  originally  for  the 
Confraternity  of  St.  Mark,  and,  together  with  Tintoretto's  more  gener- 
ally noted  work,  the  so-called  Miracle  of  the  Slave,  adorned  the  walls 
of  the  Scuola  grande  di  San  Marco.  "  Truly,"  says  Boschini,  "  neither 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH  OF  ST.  MARK.  49 

The  Doge  at  once  began  the  construction  of  a  new 
church,  but  he  had  hardly  put  his  hand  to  it  before  his 
death,  in  the  same  year;  and  the  work  was  left  to  be 
carried  on  by  his  brother  Giovanni,  who  succeeded  him 
in  the  dogeship.* 

This  first  Church  of  St.  Mark,  erected  about  829, 
stood  for  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  One 
day  in  August,  976,  a  long -smothered  hatred  of  the 
Doge  Pietro  Candiano  broke  out  in  open  tumult.  His 
palace  was  surrounded,  the  houses  near  it  were  set  on 
fire,  and  the  flames,  reaching  the  palace,  drove  the 
Doge  to  take  shelter  in  the  church ;  but  the  fire  soon 
seized  upon  this  also,  and  the  Doge,  seeking  safety  in 
flight,  was  set  upon  by  his  enemies  at  the  portal  and 
barbarously  murdered.  The  flames  spread  fast,  and 
not  till  palace  and  church  and  more  than  three  hun- 


Tintoretto  nor  all  the  art  of  painting  could  surpass  what  is  seen  in  this 
School."  The  two  pictures  first  mentioned  are  now  in  the  Palazzo 
Reale,  the  third  is  in  the  Accademia. 

*  In  regard  to  this  edifice,  and  in  general  in  regard  to  the  history  of 
the  church  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  no  original 
documents  exist.  Frequent  conflagrations,  together  with  the  ignorance 
and  carelessness  of  the  keepers  of  the  ancient  archives,  were  the  cause 
of  the  loss  of  records  which  would  have  been  of  great  interest,  as  illus- 
trating not  only  the  story  of  the  church,  but  that  of  the  arts,  in  Venice. 
A  few  brief  notices  in  chronicles,  mostly  of  late  date,  and  such  evi- 
dence as  the  existing  church  affords  in  regard  to  the  original  con- 
struction, are  the  only  sources  from  which  knowledge  of  its  early  char- 
acter is  to  be  gained.  Such  facts  as  are  known  are  to  be  found  collect- 
ed in  Momimenti  Artistici  e  Storici  delle  Provincie  Venete  descritti  dalla 
Commissiom,  etc.,  Milano,  1859.  This  valuable  report  was  drawn  up 
by  the  Marchese  Pietro  Selvatico  and  Signor  Cesare  Foucard.  Mothes, 
in  his  Geschichte  der  Baukunst  und  Bildhatterei  Venedigs  (Leipzig,  1859), 
gives  a  good  summary  of  the  history  of  the  church. 

4 


CQ  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

dred  houses  had  been  destroyed  did  they  cease  their 
work.* 

One  of  the  first  cares  of  the  successor  of  Candiano, 
Pietro  Orseolo,  was  the  rebuilding  (recreare  is  the  word 
used  by  the  chronicler)  of  palace  and  church.  There 
is  no  account  of  the  character  or  progress  of  the  work ; 
but  about  seventy  years  later  Domenico  Contarini,  who 
was  Doge  from  1042  to  1051,  began  to  remodel  the 
church  upon  a  new  design,  reconstructing  the  edifice, 
in  the  essential  features  of  its  plan,  such  as  it  now  ex- 
ists. The  building  begun  by  him  was  completed  by 
his  successor,  Domenico  Selvo,  in  the  year  1071,  and 
artists  were  employed  to  cover  its  domes  and  vaults 
with  the  splendid  adornment  of  mosaics  "  after  the 
Greek  manner."  The  phrase  of  the  chronicler  is  sig- 
nificant ;  for  though  to  him  it  meant  merely  the  man- 
ner of  the  degenerate  Greeks  of  Constantinople,  yet, 
in  truth,  their  manner  was  an  inheritance — wasted  now, 
and  scanty  indeed,  still  a  true  inheritance — from  those 
Greek  artists  of  the  ancient  time  who  had  carved  the 
bass-reliefs  of  the  Parthenon  or  designed  the  pattern 
for  the  embroidered  peplus  of  Athena. 

The  church  was  complete,  but  its  consecration  was 
still  delayed.  Ever  since  the  fire  of  976,  for  now  a 


*  Johannes  Diaconus,  Chron.  Venetum,  in  Pertz,  Man.  Script,  torn.  vii. 
p.  52.  This  Chronicle,  formerly  known  as  the  Chronicle  of  Sagornino,  is 
the  work  of  a  contemporary  of  these  events.  The  author  was  chaplain 
of  the  Doge  Pietro  Orseolo  II.,  991-1009.  He  writes  with  intelligence, 
as  one  who  saw  things  in  the  world  with  his  own  eyes,  and  not  from 
cloister  windows. 


RECOVERY  OF  THE  BODY  OF  THE  SAINT.        51 

hundred  years,  the  body  of  St.  Mark  had  disappeared. 
This  was  occasion,  says  the  Doge  Andrea  Dandolo  in 
his  Chronicle,  "of  lamentation  to  the  clergy,  and  of 
great  depression  to  the  laity."  It  was  not  to  be  be- 
lieved that  the  sacred  treasure,  the  palladium  of  the 
city,  destined  for  it  by  the  decree  of  Heaven,  had  per- 
ished. Without  it  the  new  church  must  remain  vacant 
of  its  chief  dignity.  It  could  not  be  the  divine  will 
that  Venice  should  be  deprived  of  her  own  special 
saint.  Now  that  at  length  the  church  was  finished 
and  adorned  worthily  to  contain  such  a  treasure,  it 
was  resolved,  in  June,  1094,  to  keep  a  fast  in  the 
city,  and  to  make  a  most  solemn  procession  through 
the  church,  with  devout  supplication  to  the  Almighty 
that  he  would  be  pleased  to  reveal  the  place  of  con- 
cealment of  the  sacred  relics.  And  lo !  while  the  pro- 
cession was  moving,  of  a  sudden  a  light  broke  from 
one  of  the  piers,  a  sound  of  cracking  was  heard,  bricks 
fell  upon  the  pavement,  and  there,  within  the  pier,  was 
beheld  the  body  of  the  saint,  with  the  arm  stretch- 
ed out,  as  if  he  had  moved  it  to  make  the  opening 
in  the  masonry.  On  one  finger  was  a  ring  of  gold, 
which,  after  others  had  tried  in  vain,  was  drawn  off 
by  Giovanni  Dolfino,  one  of  the  counsellors  of  the 
Doge. 

The  joy  of  the  people  was  now  as  great  as  their 
grief  had  been  before.  The  miracle  quickened  their 
devotion  and  excited  their  fancy,  and  on  the  8th  of 
October  following,  "  the  church  being  dedicated  to  God, 


c2  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

the  reverend  body  was  laid  away  in  a  secret  place,  the 
Doge,  the  Primate,  and  the  Procurator  alone  knowing 
where."* 

The  design  of  the  new  church,  both  in  its  general 
plan  and  in  its  details,  was  not  copied  from  any  exist- 
ing edifice.  It  gave  evidence,  in  its  conception,  of  a 
quality  characteristic  of  Venetian  art  at  all  times  and 
in  all  departments — the  quality  of  independent  and 
original  treatment  of  elements  derived  from  foreign 
sources.  This  is  a  distinguishing  trait  of  the  artistic 
races  of  the  world,  and  this  it  is  which  gives  Venice  a 
higher  rank  in  the  history  of  the  arts  than  that  which 
any  other  mediaeval  Italian  city  can  claim.  Florence, 
indeed,  at  times  presses  her  hard ;  but  even  the  Flor- 
entine artists  were  less  inspired  by  the  spirit  which 
remodels  traditional  types  of  beauty  into  new  forms, 
adapted  to  give  expression  to  the  special  genius  of  a 
people  of  definite  originality,  than  the  great  masters  of 
Venetian  architecture  and  painting.  Whatever  Venice 
touched  she  stamped  with  her  own  impress.  She 
studied  under  Byzantine  teachers,  but  was  not  con- 
tent merely  to  copy  their  works.  She  partook  of 
the  inheritance  of  Roman  tradition,  but  improved 
upon  and  modified  its  rules.  She  felt  the  strong 
influence  of  the  Gothic  spirit — no  other  Italian  city 

*  This  secrecy  was  doubtless  adopted  in  order  to  secure  the  body 
against  the  risk  of  being  a  second  time  stolen.  Thefts  of  relics  were 
not  uncommon  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  wonder-working  relics  of  a 
famous  saint  were  the  source  of  great  profit  to  the  church  where  they 
were  preserved. 


PLAN  OF  ST.  MARK'S.  53 

felt  it  so  strongly ;  but,  instead  of  yielding  her  own 
originality  to  the  powerful  compulsion  of  the  North- 
ern style,  she  accepted  its  principles,  not  as  ultimate 
canons  of  a  fixed  system,  but  as  vital  and  plastic  ele- 
ments for  her  own  invention  to  work  with  ;  and  created 
a  fresh  and  beautiful  Gothic  style  of  her  own. 

The  architect  of  St.  Mark's  is  unknown,  but  that  he 
was  a  Venetian  is  evident  from  the  exhibition  of  this 
prime  trait  of  Venetian  genius  in  his  work.  Constan- 
tinople and  Rome  furnished  him  with  separate  ele- 
ments of  his  design,  which  he  fused  into  a  composition 
neither  Byzantine  nor  Romanesque,  unexampled  hith- 
erto, only  to  be  called  Venetian.  Adopting  the  Greek 
cross  for  his  ground-plan,  he  placed  over  the  point  of 
intersection  of  its  arms  a  central  dome,  forty-two  feet 
in  diameter,  connected  by  pendentives  with  four  great 
arches  that  sprang  from  four  piers  of  vast  dimensions. 
Over  each  arm  of  the  cross  rose  a  similar  but  some- 
what smaller  cupola ;  each  cupola,  including  the  cen- 
tral one,  having  a  range  of  small  windows  at  its  base, 
which  seemed  to  lighten  its  pressure  upon  its  supports. 
Through  the  piers  ran  archways  in  both  directions,  so 
as  to  open  a  narrow  aisle  on  each  side  of  the  nave  and 
transept.  The  level  of  the  eastern  arm  of  the  cross 
was  raised  above  that  of  the  body  of  the  church  to 
give  space  to  a  crypt  beneath  it,  where,  below  the 
high  -  altar,  the  relics  of  St.  Mark  were  laid  in  their 
secret  repose.  A  semicircular  apse  terminated  the 
eastern  end  of  the  church,  stretching  out  beyond  the 


r4  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

aisles,  which  were  closed  externally  by  a  flat  wall,  but 
shaped  within  into  small,  also  semicircular,  apses.  The 
material  of  the  structure  was  brick,  but  the  whole 
surface  of  the  building,  within  and  without,  was  to  be 
covered  with  precious  incrustations  of  mosaic  or  of 
marble. 

The  form  of  the  cross,  the  domes,  the  incrusted  dec- 
oration, were  all  borrowed  from  the  East,  and  all  had 
their  prototypes  in  Byzantine  buildings.  But  the  crypt 
and  the  apses,  and  many  of  the  details,  were  of  Roman- 
esque character;  and  the  diverse  elements  of  the  two 
styles  mingled  here  in  harmonious  combination.* 

How  far  the  adorning  of  the  church  with  mosaic  and 
marble  had  advanced  at  the  time  of  its  dedication  in 
1094  cannot  be  told ;  but  the  work  was  not  of  a  nature 
to  be  speedily  accomplished,  and  the  twelfth  century 
may  have  been  drawing  to  its  close  before  the  com- 
pletion of  the  elaborate  and  splendid  covering  of  the 
walls.  The  consistent  and  steady  carrying-out  of  a 
system  of  decoration  so  costly  and  so  magnificent  is 
a  proof  of  the  interest  of  the  Venetians  in  the  work, 
and  of  the  reality  of  that  piety  which  was  one  of  the 
constant  boasts  of  the  republic.  The  church  was  prop- 
erly the  Chapel  of  the  Doges,  and,  as  such,  under  their 
immediate  charge ;  but  though  successive  Doges  de- 
voted large  sums  to  its  construction  and  adornment, 

*  Some  interesting  remarks  on  the  Byzantine  elements  in  St.  Mark's 
are  to  be  found  in  M.  F.  de  Verneilh's  remarkable  work  on  L' Architec- 
ture Byzantine  en  France.  Paris,  1851. 


MATERIALS  FOR    THE  EDIFICE.  55 

the  chief  cost  was  doubtless  defrayed  by  the  offerings 
of  the  citizens,  to  whom,  year  by  year,  it  became  more 
and  more  an  object  of  pride,  and  who  saw  in  it  the 
image  of  the  faith  and  the  power  of  the  State  itself.  It 
became  by  degrees  the  centre  of  Venetian  life,  the  type 
of  the  glory  of  Venice.  And  thus  while  the  mosaics 
of  its  vaults  and  domes  display  the  religious  concep- 
tions of  the  age  and  the  sentiment  and  skill  of  a  long 
succession  of  nameless  artists,  in  like  manner  the  slabs 
of  marble  and  alabaster  that  cover  pier  and  wall,  the 
multitudinous  carvings,  and  the  priceless  columns  of 
marble  exhibit  no  less  plainly  the  persistent  zeal  of  sea- 
going traders  and  men-at-arms  in  contributing  for  the 
adornment  of  their  church  the  gains  of  their  commerce 
or  the  spoils  of  their  conquests.  From  far  and  near — 
from  the  ruins  of  Aquileja  or  from  the  desolate  palace 
of  Spalato,  from  the  temples  of  ancient  cities  along  the 
coast  of  Italy  or  Asia  Minor,  from  Athens  or  Constan- 
tinople, from  the  islands  of  the  ^Egean,  from  Sicily  or 
Africa — were  brought  shafts  and  capitals,  fragments  of 
sculpture,  blocks  of  colored  stone,  to  be  offered  for  the 
work  of  the  church.  It  is  a  most  striking  indication  of 
the  prevalence  of  a  genuine  artistic  spirit  at  Venice, 
not  only  that  these  objects  should  have  been  so  widely 
sought,  but  that  the  successive  master-builders  should 
have  had  the  genius  to  make  such  use  of  this  medley 
of  materials,  supplied  to  them  irregularly  and  without 
order,  as  to  produce  not  a  mere  variegated  patchwork 
of  carved  and  colored  ornament,  but  a  skilful,  harmoni- 


2 6  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

ous  composition,  in  which  each  detail  seems  to  be  cal- 
culated in  relation  to  the  general  effect  with  hardly  less 
intention  and  appropriateness  than  if  all  had  been  so 
designed  from  the  beginning.  Their  success,  however, 
lay  in  the  fact  that  they  worked  upon  a  principle  whol- 
ly diverse  from  those  which  controlled  the  builders  of 
Gothic  structures — a  principle  which  subordinated  the 
effects  of  pure  line  and  constructive  form  to  those 
of  color.  The  church  was  designed  to  afford  broad, 
unbroken  masses  of  wall  for  colored  surface  decora- 
tion, and  the  elaborate  multiplicities  of  form  peculiar 
to  Gothic  architecture  were  altogether  unattempted. 
There  have  been  no  such  colorists  in  architecture  as 
the  Venetians.  It  was  as  special  a  gift  to  them  as  the 
perfect  sense  of  form  was  to  the  Athenians.  Gifts 
such  as  these,  limited  to  single  races,  to  defined  epochs, 
are  not  to  be  accounted  for  by  any  enumeration  of  ex- 
ternal conditions.  Their  sources  lie  concealed  in  un- 
discoverable  regions.  But  their  influence  is  to  be 
traced  in  all  the  most  characteristic  expressions  of  the 
race,  and  may  be  perceived  often  in  remote  and  varied 
fields  of  thought  and  of  action.  They  appear  not  mere- 
ly in  art  and  manners  and  language,  but  their  subtle 
influence  penetrates  into  those  relations  of  private  or 
public  conduct  in  which  the  imagination  claims  an 
interest.  Of  all  the  legacies  of  Athens  to  the  world, 
none,  perhaps,  is  more  precious  than  the  teaching  of 
the  intellectual  value  of  form  and  proportion ;  of  the 
many  heirlooms  that  Venice  has  bequeathed,  one  of 


WEST  FRONT  OF  ST.  MARK'S.  57 

the  best  is  the  doctrine  of  the  refined  and  noble  use  of 
color. 

Though  the  original  plan  of  the  main  building  seems 
to  have  been  that  of  the  simple  Greek  cross,  yet,  not 
long  after  its  walls  were  erected,  an  addition  to  it  was 
begun,  by  which  the  western  arm  was  to  be  enclosed 
within  an  atrium,  or  vestibule,  upon  its  northern  side 
and  western  end,  and  on  its  southern  side  with  a  chapel 
dedicated  to  St.  John  the  Baptist  and  an  apartment  for 
the  sacred  treasury  of  the  church.*  This  addition,  in 
the  course  of  the  twelfth  century,  gave  to  the  building 
that  magnificent  facade  which  is  the  most  striking  and 
original  characteristic  of  its  exterior.  Upon  the  adorn- 
ment of  this  facade  the  resources  of  Venetian  wealth 
and  art  were  lavished.  It  was  enriched  not  only  with 
precious  marbles,  but  with  carvings  and  mosaics,  till  it 
was  made  the  most  splendid  composition  of  colored  ar- 
chitecture that  Europe  has  beheld.  No  building  so 
costly  or  so  sumptuous  had  been  erected  since  the  fall 
of  the  Empire ;  and  none  more  impressive,  in  propor- 
tion to  its  size,  none  more  picturesque,  has  been  built 
in  later  times.  And  yet  it  is  this  unique  facade,  to 
which  the  hand  of  time  has  given  the  last  touch  of 

*  It  is  possible,  indeed,  that  the  hall  at  the  western  end,  with  its  triple 
portal,  supporting  a  gallery,  may  have  been  part  of  the  original  design. 
It  appears  certain  that  it  was  constructed  before  the  northern  or  south- 
ern additions.  The  exact  dates  are  not  to  be  ascertained,  nor  are  they 
of  much  consequence,  for  the  whole  work  belongs  to  the  great  period 
of  creative  activity  and  imaginative  design  throughout  a  large  part  of 
Europe,  extending  from  the  close  of  the  eleventh  to  the  beginning  or 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  1075-1225. 


5 8  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

beauty,  in  the  hue  which  only  years  can  bestow,  that, 
at  this  moment,  as  these  pages  are  going  through  the 
press,  is  threatened  with  destruction,  under  the  name 
of  restoration.  Italy  plays  the  part  in  these  days  of 
the  serving-maid  of  Aladdin,  and  over  and  over  again 
is  cheated  into  giving  up  her  old  magical  treasure  by 
the  allurement  of  bright  new  brass.  Florence,  Perugia, 
Siena,  Rome — all  have  suffered  irreparably  in  loss  of 
beauty  and  in  historic  dignity  through  the  wanton 
work  of  that  modern  spirit  of  vulgarity  which  has 
neither  reverence  for  the  past  nor  regard  for  the  future. 
But  there  has  been  nothing  worse  than  this  proposal 
to  ruin  "  those  golden  walls  that  East  and  West  once 
joined  to  build."  The  protest  against  this  special  dese- 
cration now  making  itself  heard  in  Europe  may  be  ef- 
fectual to  prevent  it,  but  there  is  need  of  constant  vigi- 
lance and  effort  to  protect  the  most  venerable  monu- 
ments from  the  rude  hand  of  the  professional  despoiler. 
The  church  was  not  merely  picturesque,  but  pictorial. 
The  system  of  mosaic  decoration  with  which  arches, 
vaults,  and  domes  were  covered  was  intended  not  mere- 
ly for  ornament,  but  as  a  series  of  pictures  for  religious 
instruction.  The  Scriptures  were  here  displayed  in  im- 
perishable painting  before  the  eyes  of  those  who  could 
not  read  the  written  Word.  The  church  became  thus 
not  only  a  sanctuary  wherein  to  pray,  to  confess,  to  be 
absolved,  but  also  a  school-house  for  the  teaching  of  the 
faithful.*  It  was  like  "a  vast  illuminated  missal,"  its 

*  A  description  of  the  mosaics,  with  their  various  inscriptions,  is  to 


MOSAICS  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  59 

pages  filled  with  sacred  designs  painted  on  gold.  One 
of  the  inscriptions  on  its  walls  truly  declares  in  rude 
rhyme — 

"  HISTORIIS,  FORMA,  AURO,  SPECIE  TABULARUM, 
HOC  TEMPLUM  MARCI  FORE  DECUS  OMNIUM  ECCLESIARUM." 

The  scheme  of  its  pictorial  decoration  includes  the 
story  of  the  race  of  man,  his  fall  and  redemption ;  the 
life  and  passion  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  works  of  his 
apostles  and  saints. 

The  ceiling  of  the  atrium,  or  fore-court,  of  the  temple 
was  naturally,  according  to  the  order  of  thought  of  its 
designers,  occupied  with  subjects  from  the  Old  Dispen- 
sation ;  and  there  appears  to  have  been  an  obvious  and 
impressive  intention,  as  has  been  pointed  out  by  Mr. 
Ruskin,*  in  the  conclusion  of  the  series  with  the  mira- 
cle of  the  fall  of  manna.  It  was  to  direct  the  thoughts 
of  the  disciple  to  the  saying  "  Your  fathers  did  eat 
manna  and  are  dead,"  and  to  bring  to  his  remembrance 
that  living  bread  whereof  "  if  any  man  eat,  he  shall  live 
forever."  Entering  the  central  door  of  the  church,  he 
would  see  before  him,  dim  in  the  distance  of  the  east- 
be  found  in  a  book  of  great  value  to  the  student  of  the  church,  and  now 
rare,  called  La  Chiesa  Ducale  di  S.  Marco  [da  G.  Meschinello].  Venezia, 
1753.  4  vols.  sm.  4to.  For  a  plan  exhibiting  the  order  of  the  mosaics, 
see  Kugler,  Handbook  of  Painting.  London,  1851,  i.  74. 

*  I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  which  the  mention  of  Mr.  Ruskin's 
name  affords  me  to  refer  to  his  Stones  of  Venice,  and  his  recent  St. 
Mark's  Rest,  as  the  books  from  which  a  better  acquaintance  with  the 
qualities  of  Venetian  art  and  of  Venetian  character  may  be  gained  than 
from  all  others  besides.  The  dry  bones  of  history  are  changed  to  a 
body  with  a  living  soul  by  the  inspiration  of  his  genius. 


60  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

ern  end,  the  mighty  figure  of  the  Saviour  throned  in 
glory,  and  uttering  the  words — 

"  SUM  REX  CUNCTORUM,  CARO  FACTUS  AMORE  REORUM, 
NE  DESPERETIS  VENICE  DUM  TEMPUS  HABETIS." 

Then,  turning  and  looking  upward  to  the  wall  above 
the  door  by  which  he  had  entered,  the  worshipper  would 
behold  the  same  figure,  with  the  Virgin  on  one  side  and 
St.  Mark  on  the  other,  Christ  himself  holding  open  upon 
his  knee  the  Book  of  Life,  on  the  pages  of  which  is 
written  "  I  am  the  door ;  by  me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he 
shall  be  saved ;"  and  above,  on  the  moulding  of  red  mar- 
ble around  the  mosaic,  were  the  words  "  I  am  the  gate 
of  life ;  enter  through  me  ye  who  are  mine."  ("  Janua 
sum  vitae ;  per  me  mea  membra  venite.") 

It  was  thus  that  Venice  received  within  the  church 
of  her  patron  saint  the  followers  of  the  faith  of  which 
she  boasted  herself  the  bulwark.* 

At  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century  St.  Mark's 
was  essentially  complete.  But  such  a  building  was  not 
erected  by  contract,  with  the  stipulation  that  it  should 
be  finished  at  a  certain  date.  It  was  not,  indeed,  re- 
garded as  a  work  that  admitted  of  definite  conclusion, 
but  rather  as  one  to  be  continually  in  hand,  to  be  made 
more  excellent  from  generation  to  generation,  the  con- 
stant care  of  the  State  and  of  the  people,  an  object  of 
unceasing  interest  and  of  endless  increase  in  beauty 
and  adornment.  There  was  never  a  time  when  some 
one  of  the  arts  was  not  adding  to  its  embellishment 

*  "  Sempre  1'  antemurale  della  Cristianita  "  was  her  own  claim. 


CHANGE  IN  VENETIAN  TASTE.  6 1 

Of  much  that  was  done  no  record  remains ;  but  the  his- 
tory of  the  building  can  in  part  be  traced  from  its  own 
walls,  in  part  from  written  records.  During  the  twelfth 
century  the  Campanile  was  carried  up  above  all  the 
other  towers  of  Venice,  and  from  that  time  has  been 
the  most  conspicuous  signal  of  the  city  by  sea  or  by 
land.  It  stands,  after  the  common  Italian  fashion,  de- 
tached from  the  church,  with  whose  low  domes  and 
enriched  arcades  its  own  simple  and  stern  vertical  lines 
are  a  vigorous  and  picturesque  contrast*  For  at  least 
two  centuries  (i  125-1350)  the  structures  annexed  to  the 
main  body  of  the  church,  and  forming  a  part  of  it  as 
seen  from  without,  including  the  baptistery,  the  treas- 
ury, and  the  fore-court,  or  vestibule,  were  slowly  advan- 
cing towards  completion  and  receiving  their  rich  casing 
of  marble  and  mosaic.  All  this  work  corresponded 
in  general  style  with  that  of  the  church,  and  was  in 
harmony  with  its  general  design.  But  meanwhile  a 
great  change  was  going  on  in  the  taste  of  the  Vene- 
tians. The  influences  of  the  East  were  losing  ground 
before  those  of  the  West,  and  the  Byzantine  elements 
in  Venetian  architecture  were  giving  place  to  those  of 
Gothic  art.  It  was  about  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  or  perhaps  in  the  early  years  of  the  fifteenth, 
that  the  incongruous  but  picturesque  and  fanciful 
cro\vd  of  pinnacles  and  tabernacles,  of  crockets,  finials, 


*  The  Campanile  frequently  suffered  from  strokes  of  lightning  and 
from  fire.  In  1489,  after  its  summit  had  been  shattered  by  lightning,  it 
was  restored,  and  since  then  has  remained  essentially  unaltered. 


62  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

and  canopies  with  pointed  arches,  which  is  in  such 
striking  opposition  to  the  older  and  simpler  forms  of 
the  building,  was  set  up  on  the  church.  These  archi- 
tectural decorations  enhance  the  impression  of  variety 
and  wealth  of  adornment,  they  give  a  strange  and 
complex  character  to  the  facade,  but  they  serve  no 
constructive  purpose :  they  are  mere  external  decora- 
tion; and  though  their  effect  is  brilliant  and  surpris- 
ing, it  is  not  in  keeping  with  the  scheme  of  the  earlier 
builders.  Intended  but  to  increase  the  richness  of 
the  front,  they  have,  indeed,  a  real  significance  as 
marking  a  change  in  the  moral  temper  of  Venice,  and 
a  loss  of  fineness  in  her  perceptions  of  fitness  and  of 
beauty.  She  was  growing  luxurious,  sensual,  and  prod- 
igal. A  century  earlier  she  had  known  how  to  use  the 
forms  of  Gothic  architecture  with  dignity,  and  with  im- 
agination all  the  more  powerful  for  being  held  firmly 
in  restraint.  But  this  ornamentation  of  St.  Mark's  indi- 
cated by  its  wantonness  the  beginning  of  a  new  epoch 
of  Venetian  art,  in  which  architecture,  sculpture,  and 
painting,  after  having  long  united  their  powers  to  ex- 
press the  sentiment  and  faith  of  a  high-spirited  com- 
munity, were  to  become  the  ministers  to  its  ostentation 
and  the  servants  of  the  luxury  and  display  of  private 
citizens. 

The  moral  history  of  Venice  for  five  hundred  years 
is  indelibly  recorded  on  the  walls  of  the  church,  the 
decoration  of  which  had  been  the  chief  task  of  her  arts ; 
the  arts  are  incorruptible  witnesses,  and  form  and  color 


POPULAR  ASSEMBLIES  IN  ST.  MARK'S.  £3 

are  undeniable  indications  of  spiritual  conditions.  The 
testimony  of  mosaics  and  marbles  concerning  the  char- 
acter and  aims  of  the  Venetians  corresponds  with  and 
is  confirmed  by  the  less  instinctive  evidence  of  the  in- 
scriptions set  in  the  walls  or  engraved  on  the  monu- 
ments of  the  dead  buried  within  the  church. 

St.  Mark's,  the  chapel  of  the  doges,  was  used,  not  for 
strictly  religious  services  and  ceremonies  alone,  but 
'served  as  the  gathering-place  of  the  people  when  great 
affairs  were  to  be  determined,  and  the  Doge  saw  fit  to 
summon  the  citizens  to  hear  and  to  decide  by  their 
vote  what  course  should  be  followed.  There  was  no 
other  place  so  fitting  for  public  transactions  of  impor- 
tance, for  which  the  blessing  and  guidance  of  Heaven 
were  to  be  sought  by  the  powerful  intercession  of  the 
saint.  Here,  too,  each  Doge,  upon  his  election  by  the 
council,  was  presented  before  an  assemblage  of  the  peo- 
ple, called  together  by  the  ringing  of  the  bells,  that  the 
choice  might  be  confirmed  by  the  voices  of  the  com- 
mon citizens.  "  We  have  chosen  this  man  Doge,  if  so 
it  please  you,"*  were  the  words  with  which  their  con- 
sent was  asked,  and  it  was  seldom  that  the  people  had 
reason  not  to  be  pleased  with  the  choice.  Then,  before 
all  the  people,  the  new  Doge,  kneeling  at  the  high-altar, 


*  This  form  lasted  till  the  election  of  Francesco  Foscari,  in  1423, 
when  it  was  disused,  all  semblance  of  a  popular  element  in  the  State 
having  by  this  time  disappeared.  "  Suppose  the  people  were  to  say 
No;  what  would  it  matter?"  asked  the  Grand  Chancellor.  "Let  us 
therefore  only  say,  We  have  chosen  this  man  Doge."  See  Sanudo,  Vtte 
de  Duchi,  966,  E. 


64  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

was  invested  by  the  Primate  with  the  ducal  mantle,  and 
received  from  his  hands  the  red  banner  of  St.  Mark,  the 
triumphant  standard  of  the  republic.  Near  the  door 
by  which  the  Doge  entered  the  church  from  his  palace, 
above  the  altar  of  St.  Clement,  was  an  inscription  in  let- 
ters of  gold,  addressed  to  the  Doge  himself ;  it  was  the 
monition  of  Venice  to  him : 

"DILIGE  IUSTITIAM,  SUA  CUNCTIS  REDDITO  IURA :  PAUPER  CUM 
VIDUA,  PUPILLUS  ET  ORPHANUS,  O  DUX,  TE  SIBI  PATRONUM  SPE- 
RANT.  PIUS  OMNIBUS  ESTO :  NON  TIMOR  AUT  ODIUM  VEL  AMOR  NEC 
TE  TRAHAT  AURUM. 

"  UT  FLOS  CASURUS,  DUX,  ES,  CINERESQUE  FUTURUS, 
ET  VELUT  ACTURUS,  POST  MORTEM  SIC  HABITURUS." 

"  Love  justice,  render  their  rights  unto  all :  let  the 
poor  man  and  the  widow,  the  ward  and  the  orphan,  O 
Doge,  hope  for  a  guardian  in  thee.  Be  pious  towards 
all.  Let  not  fear,  nor  hate,  nor  love,  nor  gold  betray 
thee.  As  a  flower  shalt  thou  fall,  Doge ;  dust  shalt  thou 
become ;  and  as  shall  have  been  thy  deeds,  so,  after 
death,  shall  thy  guerdon  be." 

The  close  connection  of  palace  and  church  was  the 
type  of  the  connection  between  the  politics  and  the  re- 
ligion of  the  State.  There  was  no  divorce  between 
them  in  theory.  The  men  who  founded,  built  up,  and 
administered  the  republic  were,  with  few  exceptions, 
men  not  merely  pious,  but  in  a  noble  sense  religious. 
During  the  centuries  of  the  splendor  and  power  of  Ven- 
ice, a  standard  of  honesty,  uprightness,  and  steady  jus- 
tice in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs  was  maintained  by 
her  superior  to  that  of  any  other  mediaeval  State.  The 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  ST.  MARK'S.  65 

qualities  which  distinguished  the  private  dealings  of  her 
citizens  were  displayed  in  her  public  administration. 
Her  merchants  were  men  of  honor,  who  valued  their 
word.  They  knew  that  their  prosperity  and  that  of 
their  city  depended  on  the  confidence  inspired  by  their 
integrity.  The  habit  of  honest  dealing  became  a  rul- 
ing principle  in  Venetian  character.  There  were  cheats 
and  thieves  and  traitors  at  Venice  as  well  as  elsewhere, 
but  there  \vas  no  laxity  towards  fraud,  and  the  Venetian 
ideal  of  character  was  one  in  which  honesty  and  justice 
were  the  first  elements.  The  Doge  Vitale  Faliero,  in 
whose  time  St.  Mark's  was  consecrated,  died  in  1096,  and 
was  buried  in  the  portico  of  the  church.  Upon  his  tomb, 
enriched  with  mosaics  of  the  Saviour,  the  Virgin,  and 
the  archangels  of  the  Last  Judgment,  is  an  inscription 
of  which  the  first  lines  render  the  old  Venetian  ideal : 

"  MORIBUS  INSIGNIS,  TITULIS  CELEBERRIME  DIGNIS, 
CULTOR  HONESTATIS,  DUX  OMNIMOD^E  PROBITATIS."  * 

The  evidence  of  epitaphs,  however  doubtful  as  re- 
gards the  character  of  special  individuals,  is  trustwor- 

*  Close  by  the  tomb  of  this  Doge  is  that  of  the  young  wife  of  his  suc- 
cessor, Vitale  Michele.  She  died  in  the  first  year  of  the  I2th  century, 
and  the  inscription  which  commemorates  her  virtues  gives  us  a  con- 
ception of  the  Venetian  ideal  of  the  womanly  character  at  that  early 
time.  This  record  of  one  of  the  long  train  of  fair  Venetian  women, 
deficient  as  it  is  in  literary  art,  but  with  the  grace  of  simplicity,  adds  an 
association  of  tenderness  to  the  historic  memories  of  St.  Mark's : 
"  Cultrix  vera  Dei,  cultrix  et  pauperiei ; 

Sic  subnixa  Deo  quo  frueretur  eo ; 

Comis  in  affatu,  nullis  onerosa  ducatu  ; 

Vultu  mitis  erat,  quod  foris  intus  erat. 

Calcavit  luxum,  suffugit  quemque  tumultum 

Ad  strepitum  nullum  cor  tulit  ipsa  suum." 

5 


66  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

thy  in  respect  to  the  qualities  honored  by  the  public. 
Through  all  the  period  of  the  best  life  of  Venice,  from 
the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century,  the  virtues  of 
probity  and  justice  are  constantly  cited  as  chief  titles 
to  honor  of  the  dead. 

"  Justus,  purus,  castus,  mitis,  cuique  placebat "  is  the 
praise  of  the  Doge  Sebastiano  Ziani,  who  died  in  1 1 78. 
It  was  while  this  just,  pure,  chaste,  and  mild  man  was 
Doge  that  St.  Mark's  was  the  scene  of  one  of  the  most 
striking  incidents  in  Venetian  annals.  So  deeply  im- 
pressed was  the  popular  imagination  by  the  nature  of 
the  transaction  and  the  personages  that  took  part  in  it, 
that  a  fanciful  legend  concerning  it  sprang  up  and  so 
flourished,  with  the  aid  of  the  Church  and  of  the  arts,  as 
for  centuries  to  obscure  the  real  facts  of  history.  Dur- 
ing the  twenty  years'  strife  between  Frederic  Barba- 
rossa  and  the  Pope  Alexander  III. — a  strife  which  dis- 
tracted the  whole  Christian  world — Venice,  though 
,  cajoled  and  threatened  by  either  power  in  turn,  had 
maintained  an  independent  neutrality.  At  length,  after 
long  and  difficult  negotiations,  the  Doge,  a  man  trusted 
and  skilled  in  affairs,  succeeded  in  prevailing  upon  the 
Pope  and  the  Emperor  to  meet  in  Venice,  where  terms 
of  accord  were  settled  upon  between  them.  It  was 
agreed  that,  in  token  of  reconciliation,  there  should  be 
a  solemn  service  in  which  Pope  and  Emperor  should 
take  part.  The  Pope,  in  presence  of  a  vast  multitude 
of  spectators,  received  the  Emperor  in  the  vestibule  of 
the  church,  before  the  main  door  of  entrance,  and  the 


LEGEND  OF  THE  POPE  AND  THE  EMPEROR.       67 

place  of  this  meeting  was  marked  by  three  slabs  of 
red  marble  inserted  in  the  pavement. 

Great  as  was  the  splendor  of  the  scene,  and  great  as 
its  importance  may  have  appeared  to  the  chief  actors 
in  it  and  to  the  crowd  of  spectators,  they  did  not  ap- 
preciate its  full  meaning.  It  was,  in  truth,  the  sign  of 
the  victory  of  the  ecclesiastical  over  the  secular  power 
— a  victory  of  which  the  consequences  are  manifest 
even  in  contemporary  history.  The  event  deserved 
commemoration,  and  the  popular  legend,  though  large- 
ly a  pure  invention,  expressed  more  vividly  than  the 
true  record  the  real  significance  of  the  facts. 

According  to  this  legend,  the  Pope,  poor  and  desert- 
ed, flying  in  disguise  to  escape  the  persecutions  of 
Frederic,  took  refuge  secretly  in  Venice,  and,  being  re- 
ceived into  a  monastery,  ministered  to  the  brethren  for 
some  days  as  their  cook.  At  length  a  Venetian,  who 
had  been  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  and  had  seen  the 
Pope  there,  recognized  him  under  his  disguise,  and  in- 
formed the  Doge  of  his  presence  in  the  city.  The 
Doge,  accompanied  by  the  clergy  and  the  people,  at 
once  went  to  the  monastery,  and  thence  conducted  the 
Pope,  with  all  honor,  to  the  palace  of  the  Patriarch. 
Then  the  Doge  sent  messengers  to  the  Emperor  to  ar- 
range terms  of  peace,  but  he  angrily  refused,  bidding 
them  tell  the  Doge  that  he  demanded  the  surrender  of 
the  Pope,  "  and  if  this  be  refused,"  he  added,  "  I  will 
come  to  take  him  by  force,  and  will  set  my  eagles  on 
the  very  church  of  St.  Mark." 


68  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

The  Doge  did  not  tremble  when  he  heard  these 
words.  It  was  resolved  to  send  out  a  fleet  at  once  to 
meet  the  fleet  of  the  Emperor.  That  of  the  Venetians 
consisted  of  but  thirty  galleys,  while  that  of  the  Emper- 
or numbered  seventy-five.  On  the  26th  of  May,  1177, 
the  Feast  of  the  Ascension,  the  Venetians  won  a  signal 
victory,  with  their  thirty  galleys  capturing  forty  of  the 
enemy's  vessels,  and  taking  prisoner  Otho,  the  son  of 
Frederic  and  the  captain  of  his  fleet.  Defeat  only  em- 
bittered the  stubborn  heart  of  the  Emperor.  After  a 
while  Otho  persuaded  his  captors  to  let  him  out  from 
prison  on  parole,  that  he  might  try  to  turn  his  father's 
mind  to  peace.  Great  was  the  joy  of  his  father  at  see- 
ing him.  Then  Otho  told  him  that  the  rout  of  his  ar- 
mada had  been  due  to  no  natural  cause,  but  was  a 
manifest  judgment  of  God,  and  the  sign  of  his  displeas- 
ure with  the  Emperor  because  of  his  persecution  of  the 
Pope ;  and  he  besought  his  father  to  make  peace  be- 
fore the  arm  of  the  Lord  should  fall  more  heavily  upon 
him.  At  last  the  stiff-necked  Barbarossa  yielded  to 
the  arguments  and  persuasions  of  his  son ;  and  the  two 
set  out  for  Venice,  accompanied  by  a  great  train  of  fol- 
lowers. The  Doge  and  the  people  went  out  to  meet 
the  Emperor,  while  the  Pope,  in  his  pontifical  robes,  re- 
mained standing  on  a  pulpit  that  had  been  erected  be- 
fore the  entrance  of  St.  Mark's.  As  the  Emperor  drew 
near,  the  Pope  left  the  pulpit,  and,  entering  the  vesti- 
bule of  the  church,  awaited  his  approach.  The  Emper- 
or came,  and,  overcome  with  awe  at  the  sight  of  the 


MYTHICAL  HUMILIATION  OF  BARBAROSSA.       fig 

vicegerent  of  the  Lord  whom  he  had  so  deeply  offend- 
ed and  who  had  visited  him  with  such  heavy  chastise- 
ment, prostrated  himself  upon  the  pavement,  kissed  the 
foot  of  the  Pope,  and  prayed  for  pardon.  Then  the 
Pope  said,  setting  his  foot  upon  the  head  of  the  Em- 
peror, "  Super  aspidem  et  basiliscam  ambulabis,  et  con- 
culcabis  leonem  et  draconem,"  or,  as  translated,  "  Thou 
shalt  tread  upon  the  lion  and  adder:  the  young  lion 
and  the  dragon  shalt  thou  trample  under  feet"  (Psalm 
xci.  1 3).  The  Emperor,  not  yet  humiliated  so  far  as  to 
endure  patiently  such  indignity,  replied,  "  Non  tibi,  sed 
Petro"  (Not  to  thee,  but  to  Peter,  do  I  humble  myself) ; 
and  the  Pope  answered,  "  Et  mihi  et  Petro"  (Both  to 
me  and  to  Peter).  Then  the  Pope  raised  him  from  the 
ground,  and  they  entered  the  church  with  the  Doge, 
all  the  clergy  singing  "  Te  Deum  laudamus."* 

*  See  Sanudo,  Vite  de  Ducht,  col.  511.  This  famous  legend  for  cen- 
turies was  very  widely  adopted,  not  merely  by  unscrupulous  partisans 
of  papal  pretensions,  but  by  many  veracious  historians.  Even  Daru,  in 
his  Htstoire  de  Venise,  torn.  i.  pp.  230  seq.,  maintains  it  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  Muratori,  and  before  him  Sigonius  and  Baronius,  had  exposed 
it  as  a  tissue  of  fables.  A  thorough  examination  of  the  subject  by  the 
Nobile  Angelo  Zon  is  to  be  found  in  Cicogna,  Inscrizioni  Veneziane,  vol. 
iv.  pp.  574-593.  The  early  credit  given  to  the  legend  appears  from  the 
fact  that  in  1319  it  was  ordered  that  the  walls  of  the  Church  of  San  Nic- 
colo  of  the  Palace,  then  "  tota  nuda  picturis,"  should  be  painted  with 
pictures  representing  "hystoriam  Pape  quando  fuit  veneciis  cum  domino 
Imperatore."  See  Lorenzi's  invaluable  Monumenti  per  servire  alia  Storia 
del  Palazzo  Ducale  di  Venezia.  Parte  I .  Venezia,  1868, 4to,  p.  1 2.  A  cen- 
tury later,  in  1425,  one  wall  of  the  Hall  of  the  Great  Council  in  the  Ducal 
Palace  was  covered  with  paintings  of  the  same  story.  Id.  p.  63.  Nor  was 
the  popularity  of  the  legend  confined  to  Venice.  A  series  of  pictures 
on  the  walls  of  one  of  the  apartments  of  the  Palazzo  della  Repubblica 
at  Siena,  painted  by  Spinello  d'  Arezzo  in  1407-8,  represents  the  scenes 
of  the  story.  Siena  was  proud  of  being  the  birthplace  of  Alexander  III. 


7Q  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

Such  was  the  legend  which  was  cherished  by  the 
Venetians  and  adopted  by  the  Church.  It  represents, 
better  than  the  true  history,  the  popular  feeling  of  the 
time ;  and  it  is  itself  a  piece  of  the  history  of  St.  Mark's, 
as  having  exalted  the  pride  of  the  Venetians  in  the 
church  that  had  been  the  stage  on  which  a  scene  of 
such  import  had  been  transacted.  As  time  went  on, 
they  connected  these  fabulous  events  with  some  of 
the  chief  dignities  and  chief  festivals  of  the  republic. 
Of  all  her  festivals  there  was  none  more  fanciful  or 
more  splendid,  none  which  more  clearly  reflected  her 
poetic  temperament,  than  that  of  the  annual  espousals 
of  the  sea  by  the  Doge  on  the  Day  of  Ascension. 
The  actual  date  of  the  origin  of  this  ceremony  cannot 
be  certainly  fixed,  but  it  seems  likely  that  the  custom 
began  not  far  from  the  year  1000.  The  later  Vene- 
tians were,  however,  apt  to  regard  it  as  being  in  part, 
at  least,  a  commemoration  of  the  marvellous  and  fabu- 
lous victory  gained  on  Ascension  Day  over  the  impe- 
rial fleet ;  and  it  was  believed  that  Pope  Alexander  had 
given  to  the  Doge  the  first  ring  which  was  cast  into  the 
sea,  as  the  bridal  ring,  the  sign  that,  as  the  wife  to  her 
husband,  so  the  sea  should  be  subject  to  the  republic.* 


*  "  Uti  uxorem  viro,  ita  mare  imperio  reipublicae  Venetae  subjec- 
tum," — these  were  the  words  of  the  Pope ;  or,  according  to  another 
version,  "  Te,  fili,  Dux,  tuosque  successores  aureo  annulo  singulis  annis 
in  die  Ascensionis  mare  desponsare  volumus,  sicut  vir  subjectam  sibi 
desponsat  uxorem,  quum  vere  ipsius  custos  censearis,  quare  ab  infes- 
tantibus  nostrum  mare  quietasti  totaliter."  Sanudo,  Vtte  de  Duchi, 
col.  510. 


ENRICO  DANDOLO  AND  INNOCENT  III.  ^l 

Sebastiano  Ziani,  who  thus  accomplished  peace  be- 
tween the  two  swords,  died  ah  old  man,  in  1 1 78.  Four- 
teen years  later,  a  still  older  man,  and  one  still  more 
famous,  was  chosen  Doge,  Enrico  Dandolo.  The  re- 
pute of  the  Venetians  for  wealth,  for  arms,  for  arts,  was 
high  throughout  Christendom.  Their  energies  were 
fresh  and  their  spirit  unexhausted.  It  was  during  the 
dogeship  of  Dandolo  that  St.  Mark's  was  the  scene  of 
incidents  of  hardly  less  interest  than  those  attending 
the  pacification  of  Pope  and  Emperor,  and  of  which, 
fortunately,  a  vivid  and  trustworthy  account  by  one  of 
the  chief  actors  in  them  has  come  down  to  us. 

Dandolo  had  been  Doge  for  six  years  when,  in  1 1 98, 
Innocent  III.  was  chosen  Pope.  He  was  but  thirty- 
seven  years  old,  a  man  of  resolute  will,  of  ardent  tem- 
perament, and  with  a  political  genius  that  made  him 
not  only  the  foremost  statesman  of  his  time,  but  gives 
him  claim  to  rank  with  the  ablest  in  the  long  line  of 
the  successors  of  St.  Peter.  He  had  hardly  become 
Pope  before  he  devoted  himself,  with  all  the  energy  of 
his  vigorous  character,  to  inciting  the  rulers  and  the 
people  of  Europe  to  a  new  crusade.  He  recognized 
the  effect  of  the  crusades  in  increasing  the  authority 
and  extending  the  jurisdiction  of  the  papacy.  There 
was  no  lack  of  motive  to  excite  zeal  in  a  new  expe- 
dition for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land.  The  true 
cross  had  been  lost;  Jerusalem  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  infidel;  with  the  loss  of  Jaffa,  in  1197,  scarcely  a 
stronghold  remained  for  the  Christians  in  Palestine, 


72  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

and  the  Latin  kingdom  was  little  more  than  a  name. 
But  Saladin,  the  great  leader  of  the  Mohammedans,  was 
dead,  and  his  power  had  fallen  into  weaker  hands.  Let 
but  a  determined  effort  be  made,  and  there  was  yet 
a  chance  to  free  Christendom  from  the  ignominy  of 
leaving  the  holy  city  of  its- Lord  in  subjection  to  the 
Saracen. 

Innocent  despatched  his  briefs  and  sent  his  messen- 
gers throughout  Europe  to  rouse  the  hearts  of  men, 
and  to  press  upon  them  the  new  enterprise.  He  pro- 
claimed an  indulgence,  by  the  terms  of  which  all  those 
who  should  enlist  in  the  crusade  and  do  the  service  of 
God  for  one  year  under  arms  should  be  relieved  from 
all  penalty  for  the  sins  of  which  they  should  devout- 
ly make  confession.  Nowhere  was  the  cause  more 
ardently  preached  or  the  cross  more  readily  taken 
than  in  the  lands  of  France.  The  fervid  eloquence  of 
Foulques,  priest  of  Neuilly,  near  Paris,  stirred  the  blood 
of  young  and  old,  of  high  and  low.  Among  those  who 
pledged  themselves  to  go  across  sea  to  fight  in  the 
cause  of  the  Lord  were  Thibaut,  the  young  Count  of 
Champagne  and  of  Brie ;  Louis,  Count  of  Blois  and  of 
Ghartres,  both  cousins  of  the  King;  Simon  de  Mont- 
fort,  who  had  already  served  well  in  the  Holy  Land, 
and  who  was,  years  afterwards,  to  acquire  terrible  re- 
pute in  the  miscalled  crusade  against  the  Albigenses ; 
and,  following  the  example  of  these  leaders,  many  more 
of  the  chief  barons  of  France.  In  the  spring  of  1201 
the  preparations  had  so  far  advanced  that  six  envoys 


GEOFFROI  DE  VILLEHARDOUIN.  73 

were  sent  to  Italy  to  make  arrangements  for  the  em- 
barkation of  the  crusaders  from  some  Italian  port. 
Furnished  with  full  powers,  they  proceeded  to  Venice, 
knowing  that  there  they  would  find  a  larger  supply 
of  vessels  and  of  needful  stores  than  at  any  other 
port.  Geoffroi  de  Villehardouin,  Marshal  of  Cham- 
pagne, was  the  head  of  the  commission ;  and  in  his 
chronicle  of  the  conquest  of  Constantinople  he  report- 
ed their  proceedings  and  the  later  doings  of  the  cru- 
saders with  a  spirit,  simplicity,  and  picturesqueness  that 
make  his  narrative  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  de- 
lightful pieces  of  early  French  literature,  as  well  as  the 
most  important  historical  record  of  the  events  which 
he  describes.  His  book  affords  such  an  image  of  the 
character  and  temper  of  the  times  as  is  not  elsewhere 
to  be  found. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  envoys  at  Venice,  at  the  sea- 
son of  Lent,  in  February,  1201,  the  Doge,  "a  man  very 
wise  and  of  great  worth,"  welcomed  them  cordially,  and 
with  much  honor.  Having  presented  to  him  their  let- 
ters of  credence,  it  was  agreed  that  four  days  after- 
wards they  should  lay  their  propositions  before  the 
council.  At  the  appointed  time  "  they  entered  the 
palace,  which  was  very  rich  and  beautiful,  and  found 
the  Doge  and  his  council  in  a  chamber,  and  delivered 
their  message  after  this  manner :  '  Sire,  we  are  come 
to  you  on  the  part  of  the  high  barons  of  France,  who 
have  taken  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  order  to  avenge 
the  shame  of  Jesus  Christ  and  to  reconquer  Jerusalem, 


74  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

if  God  permit.  And,  because  they  know  that  no  peo- 
ple have  so  great  power  to  aid  them  as  you  and  your 
folk,  they  pray  you,  for  God's  sake,  to  have  pity  on 
the  Land  beyond  the  Sea  and  on  the  shame  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  take  pains  that  they  may  have  ships  of 
transport  and  of  war.'  '  In  what  manner  ?'  said  the 
Doge.  '  In  every  manner,'  said  the  envoys,  '  that  you 
can  propose  or  advise,  so  only  they  can  do  and  bear 
their  part.'  '  Certes,'  said  the  Doge,  '  'tis  a  great  thing 
they  have  asked  of  us,  and  it  seems  truly  that  they  are 
devising  a  high  affair ;  we  will  reply  to  you  eight  days 
hence.  And  marvel  not  if  the  delay  be  long,  for  so 
great  a  matter  needs  much  reflection.' 

"  At  the  time  fixed  by  the  Doge  they  went  back  to 
the  palace.  All  the  words  that  were  uttered  there  I 
cannot  report  them  to  you,  but  the  end  of  the  confer- 
ence was  this :  *  Gentlemen,'  said  the  Doge,  *  we  will  tell 
you  the  decision  we  have  taken,  if  we  can  bring  our 
great  council  and  the  commonalty  of  our  land  to  con- 
firm it,  and  you  shall  consult  together  to  see  if  you  can 
do  and  bear  your  part.  We  will  provide  fit  vessels  to 
transport  four  thousand  five  hundred  horses  and  nine 
thousand  squires,  and  ships  for  four  thousand  five  hun- 
dred knights  and  twenty  thousand  foot-soldiers.  And 
we  will  agree  to  provision  them  for  nine  months.  This 
is  what  we  will  do  at  the  least,  on  condition  that  four 
marks  shall  be  paid  for  every  horse  and  two  marks 
for  every  man.  And  we  will  make  this  agreement  to 
hold  for  one  year,  counting  from  the  day  we  shall 


TERMS  ACCEPTED  BY  THE  ENVOYS.  75 

leave  the  port  of  Venice  to  do  service  for  God  and 
for  Christendom  in  whatsoever  place  it  may  be.  The 
sum  of  this  expense  before  named  amounts  to  eighty- 
five  thousand  marks.  And  thus  much  more  we  will 
do:  we  will  add  fifty  galleys  armed  for  the  love  of 
God,  on  condition  that  so  long  as  our  joint  company 
shall  last,  of  all  the  conquests  we  shall  make  of  land 
or  of  goods,  on  sea  or  on  land,  we  shall  have  one  half 
'and  you  the  other.  Now,  then,  consult  and  see  if  you 
can  do  and  bear  your  part.' 

"  The  envoys  went  out,  saying  that  they  would  talk 
together,  and  reply  on  the  next  day.  They  consulted 
and  talked  together  that  night,  and  agreed  to  do  it, 
and  the  next  day  went  to  the  Doge,  and  said,  '  Sire, 
we  are  ready  to  conclude  this  convention.'  And  the 
Doge  said  he  would  speak  to  his  people  about  it,  and 
would  let  them  know  what  he  found  out. 

"  The  morning  of  the  third  day,  the  Doge,  who  was 
very  wise  and  worthy,  summoned  his  great  council,  and 
this  council  was  of  forty  men,  the  wisest  of  the  land. 
And  he,  by  his  sense  and  wit,  which  was  very  clear 
and  good,  brought  them  to  approve  and  will  it.  Thus 
he  brought  them  to  it,  and  then  a  hundred,  then  two 
hundred,  then  a  thousand,  till  all  agreed  and  approved. 
Then  he  assembled  at  once  full  ten  thousand  in  the 
chapel  of  St.  Mark — the  most  beautiful  in  the  world 
— and  he  said  to  them  that  they  should  hear  a  mass 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  should  pray  God  to  counsel 
them  as  to  the  request  that  the  envoys  had  made  to 
them.  .  And  they  did  so  very  willingly. 


76  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

"  When  the  mass  was  said,  the  Doge  sent  word  to 
the  envoys  that  they  should  humbly  beg  the  people 
to  consent  that  the  convention  should  be  concluded. 
The  envoys  came  to  the  church.  They  were  much 
looked  at  by  many  people  who  had  never  seen  them. 
By  the  consent  and  wish  of  the  other  envoys,  Geoffroi 
de  Villehardouin  took  the  word  and  said  to  them, 
1  Gentlemen,  the  highest  and  most  puissant  barons  of 
France  have  sent  us  to  you,  and  they  cry  you  mercy, 
that  you  take  pity  on  Jerusalem,  which  is  in  bond- 
age to  the  Turks,  and  that  for  God's  sake  you  would 
aid  them  to  avenge  the  shame  of  Jesus  Christ.  And 
they  have  chosen  you  because  they  know  that  no  peo- 
ple who  are  on  the  sea  have  so  great  power  as  you  and 
your  people.  And  they  bade  us  fall  at  your  feet,  and 
not  to  rise  till  you  should  consent  to  take  pity  on  the 
Holy  Land  beyond  the  Sea.' " 

The  memories  of  the  church  were  eloquent  in  sec- 
onding the  appeal  of  the  envoy.  More  than  a  hun- 
dred years  before,  the  people  had  been  summoned  to 
St.  Mark's  to  deliberate  as  to  the  part  that  Venice 
should  take  in  the  first  crusade,  and  had  resolved  to 
join  in  the  holy  enterprise.  The  favor  of  Heaven 
"had  attended  them,  and  they  had  brought  back  with 
them,  as  a  sign  of  its  grace,  the  most  precious  bodies 
of  St.  Theodore,  chief  patron  of  Venice  next  after 
St.  Mark,  and  of  St.  Nicholas,  another  of  her  special 
heavenly  advocates.  Again,  in  1123,  they  had  met  in 
St.  Mark's  once  more,  to  resolve,  in  the  presence  of 


THE  RESOLVE  OF  THE  VENETIANS.  jj 

the  Lord,  to  take  share  in  a  new  crusade ;  and  again 
the  fame  of  Venice  had  been  increased  by  the  deeds 
of  her  crusaders ;  her  dominion  had  been  extended, 
her  power  in  the  East  augmented,  and  she  herself  had 
been  enriched  with  new  store  of  relics,  and  with  those 
stately  columns  that  now  stood  at  the  edge  of  the  sea, 
near  to  her  palace  and  her  church,  monuments  of  the 
ancient  glory  of  Tyre,  transferred  to  the  still  more 
glorious  mediaeval  city. 

The  voice  of  such  memories  and  monuments  as 
these  was  clear.  There  could  be  but  one  answer  to 
the  new  call  to  help  to  rescue  the  sacred  walls  of 
Jerusalem.  When  Villehardouin  had  finished  his  ad- 
dress, "  the  six  envoys  knelt  down  weeping,  and  the 
Doge  and  all  the  rest  burst  into  tears  of  pity,  and  cried 
out  all  with  one  voice,  and  stretched  their  hands  on 
high  and  said,  '  We  consent !  We  consent !'  Then 
there  was  such  a  great  noise  and  uproar  that  it 
seemed  as  if  the  earth  trembled.  And  when  this 
great  uproar  was  quieted,  and  this  great  emotion  (and 
greater  no  man  ever  saw),  the  good  Doge  of  Venice, 
who  was  very  wise  and  worthy,  mounted  to  the  pulpit 
and  spoke  to  the  people,  and  said  to  them,  '  Gentle- 
men, behold  what  honor  God  has  done  you !  for  the 
best  people  in  the  world  have  turned  from  all  other 
people  and  have  sought  your  company  in  so  high  an 
emprise  as  the  deliverance  of  our  Lord.' 

"  Of  the  fair  and  good  words  that  the  Doge  spoke  I 
cannot  report  to  you  all ;  but  the  end  of  the  thing  was 


78  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

that  they  took  till  the  morrow  to  draw  up  the  papers. 
.  .  .  And  when  the  papers  were  drawn  up  and  sealed, 
they  were  brought  to  the  Doge  in  the  great  palace, 
where  were  the  great  council  and  the  little.  And 
when  the  Doge  delivered  his  papers  to  them,  he  knelt 
down,  and  with  many  tears  he  swore  upon  the  saints 
to  keep  in  good  faith  the  agreements  that  were  in  the 
papers ;  and  all  his  council,  which  was  of  forty-six  per- 
sons, did  the  like.  And  the  envoys,  on  their  part, 
swore  to  hold  to  their  papers,  and  that  the  oaths  of 
their  lords  and  their  own  oaths  should  be  kept  in  good 
faith.  And  know  that  many  a  tear  of  pity  was  shed 
there.  Then  the  envoys  borrowed  five  thousand  marks 
of  silver,  and  gave  them  to  the  Doge  to  begin  the 
fleet ;  and  then  they  took  leave  to  return  to  their  own 
country." 

The  news  that  the  envoys  carried  to  France  of  the 
good-will  and  the  promises  of  the  Venetians  was  re- 
ceived with  joy.  But  "  adventures  happen  as  it  pleases 
God,"  says  Villehardouin,  and  many  things  occurred 
to  disarrange  the  plans  of  the  leaders  of  the  crusade. 
At  length,  after  Easter,  in  May  and  June,  1202,  the  pil- 
grims began  to  depart  from  their  country.  Many  of 
them  journeyed  to  Venice,  but  not  all  who  had  prom- 
ised to  do  so  proceeded  thither ;  so  that  when  all  who 
had  gone  there  met  together  they  were  greatly  trou- 
bled, finding  themselves  too  few  to  keep  their  bar- 
gain and  to  pay  the  promised  money  to  the  Vene- 
tians. Such  as  had  come  were  received  with  joy  and 


DISCORD  AMONG  THE  CRUSADERS.  jg 

honor  by  the  Venetians.  They  were  all  lodged  on  the 
island  of  St.  Nicholas,  near  the  city,  and  the  army, 
though  small,  was  "  very  beautiful,  and  composed  of 
good  folk."  The  Venetians  provided  them  well  with 
all  needful  supplies,  and  the  fleet  which  they  had  got 
ready  was  the  finest  any  Christian  man  had  ever  seen, 
and  sufficient  for  three  times  as  many  people  as  there 
were  in  the  army.  "  The  Venetians,"  says  Villehar- 
douin,  "had  fulfilled  completely  their  agreement,  and 
even  done  much  more ;  and  now  they  summoned  the 
counts  and  barons  to  perform  their  part,  and  they  de- 
manded the  money  due  them,  for  they  were  ready  to 
set  sail."  But  when  the  price  of  passage  had  been 
paid  for  all  who  had  come  to  Venice,  the  sum  fell 
short  by  more  than  half.  Discord  arose  among  the 
crusaders,  some,  half-hearted,  wishing  to  give  up  the 
expedition  and  return  home,  while  others,  more  in 
earnest,  resolved  to  contribute,  over  and  above  their 
share,  all  that  they  could  spare  or  borrow,  preferring 
to  go  poor  rather  than  to  fail  in  their  vow.  "And 
then  you  might  have  seen  quantities  of  fine  plate  of 
gold  and  silver  carried  to  the  palace  of  the  Doge  to 
make  payment.  And  when  all  was  paid,  the  sum  still 
fell  short  by  thirty -four  thousand  silver  marks;  and 
those  who  had  kept  back  their  property  were  very 
joyous,  and  would  set  nothing  thereto,  for  they  thought 
then  that  surely  the  army  would  fail  and  go  to  pieces. 
But  God,  who  consoles  the  disconsolate,  would  not 
suffer  it  thus." 


8o  VENICE  AND  ST.  MARK'S. 

Then  the  Doge  spoke  to  his  people  to  this  effect: 
"  This  folk  can  pay  no  more,  but  let  us  not  therefore 
break  our  word ;  let  us  agree  that  the  payment  of  the 
thirty-four  thousand  marks  which  they  owe  us  be  post- 
poned till  God  let  us,  we  and  they,  gain  this  sum  to- 
gether, on  condition  that  they  help  us  to  recover  the 
strong  city  of  Zara,  in  Slavonia,  which  the  King  of 
Hungary  has  taken  from  us."  And  so,  finally,  it  was 
arranged. 

"  Then  they  assembled  one  Sunday  in  the  Church 
of  St.  Mark.  It  was  a  very  great  feast,  and  the  peo- 
ple of  the  land  were  there,  and  most  of  the  barons 
and  pilgrims.  Before  the  high  mass  began,  the  Doge 
of  Venice,  who  was  named  Enrico  Dandolo,  mounted 
the  pulpit  and  spoke  to  the  people,  and  said,  '  Gentle- 
men, you  are  associated  wdth  the  best  people  in  the 
world,  for  the  highest  affair  that  has  ever  been  under- 
taken ;  and  I  am  an  old  man  and  feeble,  and  have  need 
of  repose,  for  I  am  ill  of  body ;  but  I  see  that  no  one 
could  so  govern  and  lead  you  as  I  who  am  your  lord 
(sire).  If  you  will  consent  that  I  should  take  the  sign 
of  the  cross  in  order  to  guard  and  direct  you,  and  my 
son  stay  in  my  place  and  guard  the  land,  I  will  go  to 
live  or  die  with  you  and  the  pilgrims.'  And  when 
they  heard  him,  they  all  cried  with  one  voice,  '  We 
pray  thee,  for  love  of  God,  that  you  do  this,  and  that 
you  come  with  us.'  Very  great  was  then  the  emotion 
of  the  people  of  the  land  and  of  the  pilgrims,  and 
many  tears  were  shed,  because  this  worthy  man  might 


THE  DOGE  TAKES  THE  CROSS.  gj 

have  had  such  great  reason  for  staying  at  home;  for 
he  was  an  old  man,  and  though  his  eyes  were  fair  to 
look  on,  yet  he  saw  not  at  all,  for  he  had  lost  his  sight 
through  a  wound  on  the  head.*  But  he  had  a  very 
large  heart.  He  came  down  from  the  pulpit  and  went 
before  the  altar  and  knelt  down,  weeping  much ;  and 
they  sewed  the  cross  on  the  front  of  his  tall  cap  of 
cotton,  because  he  wished  that  the  people  should  see 
it.  And  the  Venetians  began  to  take  the  cross  in 
great  numbers.  Our  pilgrims  felt  great  joy,  and  their 
hearts  were  moved  on  account  of  that  cross  which  he 
had  taken,  because  of  his  wisdom  and  his  prowess. 
Thus  the  Doge  took  the  cross,  as  you  have  heard. 
Then  they  began  to  deliver  the  ships  and  the  galleys 
and  the  vessels  to  the  barons  for  setting  sail,  and  so 
much  time  had  passed  that  September  [1202]  was 
drawing  near." 

The  resolution  of  the  Doge,  now  ninety-four  years 

old,  is  an  illustration  of  the  spirit  that  made  the  cru- 
^     • 

sades  possible,  and  not  less  of  that  which  inspired  the 
great  works  of  church-building  of  this  period. 

The  crusade  achieved  little  for  the  honor  of  the 

*  Dandolo  had  been  blinded  when  Venetian  envoy  at  Constantino- 
ple, in  1171,  by  Manuel  Comnenus,  Emperor  of  the  East.  His  blind- 
ness does  not  seem  to  have  been  complete.  His  descendant,  the  Doge 
Andrea  Dandolo,  says  simply  in  his  chronicle,  "  Emanuel  itaque  erga 
Venetos  furore  accensus,  se  eos  ad  nihilum  redacturum  adjurans,  in  le- 
gatos,  dum  ea  quae  pacis  erant  requirerent,  injuriose  prorupit.  Cui 
Henricus  Dandolo  pro  salute  patrias  constanter  resistens,  visu  aliqua- 
liter  obtenebratus  est.  Qui  illatam  injuriam  sub  dissimulatione  secre- 
tam  tenens,  una  cum  socio  Venetias  redeunt."  Lib.  x.  cap.  i.  §  4.  The 
"  pro  salute  patriae  "  is  a  touch  of  the  true  Venetian  spirit. 

6 


82  VENICE  AND   ST.  MARK'S. 

cross.  The  arms  of  the  crusaders  were  turned  against 
Christians  and  not  Saracens.  Constantinople  was  be- 
sieged and  taken  by  the  allied  forces  of  the  French 
and  Venetians.  From  the  pillage  of  the  imperial  city 
Venice  gained  many  precious  objects.  Her  piety  was 
gratified  by  receiving  from  the  Doge  as  part  of  the 
booty  a  piece  of  the  true  cross,  one  of  the  arms  of 
St.  George,  a  part  of  the  skull  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
the  body  of  St.  Lucia — Lucia  nemica  di  ciascun  crudele 
— the  body  of  St.  Simeon,  and  a  phial  of  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ.  The  crusaders  were  not  of  a  temper  to 
respect  the  priceless  works  of  ancient  art  with  which 
the  city  was  adorned :  the  statues  of  marble  were  shat- 
tered, those  of  bronze  melted  down ;  but  Dandolo  in- 
terposed to  save  the  four  horses  of  gilded  bronze  that 
Constantine  had  carried  from  Rome  to  decorate  his 
hippodrome,  and  in  1205  they  were  sent  to  Venice, 
and  shortly  after  set  up  on  the  front  of  St.  Mark's — 
a  strange  but  striking  ornament  of  its  fanciful  fa£ade, 
and  a  permanent  memorial  of  the  share  of  Venice  in 
the  crusade.* 

*  Coryat,  whose  lively  description  of  Venice,  in  his  Crudities  (1611), 
gives  a  picture  of  the  splendid  city  in  the  days  of  its  magnificence, 
says :  "  Two  of  these  horses  are  set  on  one  side  of  that  beautiful 
alabaster  border,  full  of  imagery  and  other  singular  devices,  which  is 
advanced  over  the  middle  great  brasse  gate  at  the  comming  into  the 
Church,  and  the  other  two  on  the  other  side.  Which  yeeldeth  a  mar- 
uailous  grace  to  this  frontispice  of  the  Church,  and  so  greatly  they  are 
estemed  by  the  Venetians,  that  although  they  have  beene  offered  for 
them  their  weight  in  gold  by  the  King  of  Spaine,  as  I  heard  reported 
in  Venice,  yet  they  will  not  sell  them." 

After  the  overthrow  of  the  republic  they  were  carried,  in  1797,  to 


THE  VIEW  FROM  THE  TOWER  OF  ST.  MARK'S.       83 

The  story  of  St.  Mark's  is  an  epitome  of  the  story 
of  Venice.  So  long  as  Venice  lived,  St.  Mark's  was 
the  symbol  and  expression  of  her  life.  Among  the 
noble  works  of  men,  few  more  beautiful,  few  more 
venerable,  adorn  the  face  of  the  world.  It  is  the  chief 
monument  of  one  of  the  communities  which  in  its  time 
did  most  to  elevate  and  refine  mankind.  For  a  long 
period  the  Venetians  served  as  the  advance-guard  of 
modern  civilization,  and  their  history  can  never  cease 
to  be  of  interest  to  the  student  of  political  institutions 
and  of  the  highest  forms  of  human  society.  From  the 
top  of  the  tower  of  St.  Mark's,  says  an  old  traveller, 
"  you  have  the  fairest  and  goodliest  prospect  that  is 
(I  thinke)  in  all  the  worlde.  For  therehence  may  you 
see  the  whole  model  and  forme  of  the  citie,  sub  uno 
intuitu,  a  sight  that  doth,  in  my  opinion,  farre  sur- 
passe  all  the  shewes  under  the  cope  of  heaven.  There 
you  may  have  a  synopsis — that  is,  a  general  viewe — 
of  little  Christendome  (for  so  doe  many  intitle  this  citie 
of  Venice),  or  rather  of  the  Jerusalem  of  Christen- 
dome," and  among  all  the  sights  of  this  glorious  city 
the  best  is  "  the  beautiful  Church  of  St.  Marke,  wrhich 
though  it  be  but  little,  yet  it  is  exceeding  rich,  and 
truly  so  many  are  its  ornaments  that  a  perfect  de- 
scription of  them  will  require  a  little  volume." 

Paris,  but  were  restored  (as  an  inscription,  curiously  out  of  place  on  the 
front  of  the  church,  records)  by  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  Francis  I.,  in 
1815. 


III. 

SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

I.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  DUOMO,  AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  MONTAPERTI. 

THE  annals  of  Siena  during  the  twelfth  and  thir- 
teenth centuries,  like  those  of  most  other  Italian  cities, 
are  little  more  than  a  record  of  frequent  changes  in  the 
order  of  government,  of  popular  tumults,  of  the  exile 
of  powerful  citizens  and  their  armed  return  to  take 
vengeance  on  and  expel  their  domestic  foes,  of  bloody 
feuds  between  allied  families,  and  of  repeated  violence 
and  treachery,  consequent  on  bitter  party  divisions. 
The  hate  of  Guelf  and  Ghibelline,. quickened  by  the 
passions  of  intestine  factions,  was  never  appeased. 
The  turbulent  mass  of  the  common  people  was  always 
ready  for  a  call  to  arms.  Each  great  family  had  their 
band  of  retainers,  trained  for  service  however  desper- 
ate, and  their  palaces  were  built  as  strongholds,  not 
for  themselves  alone,  but  to  afford  shelter  and  protec- 
tion to  their  numerous  followers. 

In  spite,  however,  of  division  and  discord,  in  spite  of 
broils  at  home  and  wars  abroad,  the  city  grew  and 
prospered,  and  the  strength  of  the  community  in- 
creased. Siena  became  by  degrees  conscious  of  her 


88     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION.   ' 

abilities  and  her  resources.  The  pride  of  her  citi- 
zens, rising  with  their  growing  numbers  and  gathered 
wealth,  inspired  them  with  zeal  to  adorn  the  city,  that 
she  might  be  no  less  beautiful  than  strong,  and  might 
display  to  her  emulous  neighbors  her  superiority  in 
arts  as  well  as  in  arms.  The  gente  vana,  as  Dante  calls 
them,  were  not  of  a  temper  to  let  themselves  be  out- 
done by  their  rivals  without  an  effort,  or  to  count  nar- 
rowly the  cost  of  works  that  would  do  honor  to  their 
town  or  add  to  its  magnificence.  The  community,  not- 
withstanding its  divisions,  was  not  too  broken  nor  too 
large  to  share  in  a  common  emotion,  or  to  be  inspired 
by  a  single  will,  at  least  in  the  prosecution  of  such  de- 
signs as  rose  above  the  level  of  personal  ambitions  and 
partisan  interests. 

The  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  here  as  else- 
where in  Tuscany,  was  especially  fruitful  in  undertak- 
ings of  this  sort.  For  a  longer  breathing-spell  than 
usual,  the  city  was  free  from  war  and  exempt  from  tu- 
mult, so  that  its  people  could  give  their  thoughts  and 
means  to  works  of  common  concern  for  its  service 
or  adornment.  Thus  in  1177  the  Sienese  began  to 
dig  through  one  of  the  hills  enclosed  within  their 
walls  in  search  of  a  hidden  and  mysterious  spring 
known  to  the  popular  fancy  as  the  Diana.  They  long 
labored  in  vain,  and  Dante  scoffs  (Purgatory,  xiii. 
I5I~3)  a*  their  lost  hopes.  But  the  secret  source  was 
at  last  reached,  and  Diana's  Well,  in  the  garden  behind 
the  Church  and  Convent  of  the  Carmine,  to-day  gives 


PUBLIC  WORKS  OF  THE  CITY.  89 

water  to  the  troops  quartered  in  cells  once  occupied 
by  monks.  The  chief  water  supply  of  Siena  was,  how- 
ever, and  is  still,  derived  from  sources  outside  the  walls, 
conducted  through  pipes  into  the  city;  and  in  1193, 
in  order  to  meet  the  growing  needs  of  the  town,  new 
streams  were  led  through  underground  channels  to  the 
famous  Fonte  Branda,  while  probably  about  the  same 
time  the  spacious  reservoir  and  noble  triple  arcade  of 
this  most  picturesque  of  fountains  were  constructed 
at  public  cost.  In  the  next  year,  1194,  the  Campo  di 
Siena,  the  public  square,  which  from  that  time  has  been 
the  centre  of  the  life  of  the  town,  was  laid  out  in  its 
actual  form.  Here  the  heart  of  the  city  has  beat  high 
in  rejoicing  and  festival,  and  here  its  hottest  blood  has 
stained  every  stone  of  the  broad  pavement.  The  re- 
public has  here  celebrated  its  victories  and  mourned 
its  defeats ;  and  here  the  old  palaces  still  sullenly  gaze 
on  the  cheap  activities  of  the  daily  market,  and  on  the 
shadowy  forms  of  existence  that  have  taken  the  place 
of  the  real  life  and  eager  emotions  of  the  past.  Few 
cities  in  Italy  can  boast  of  a  nobler  public  square,  or 
one  more  crowded  with  historic  association,  than  this 
shell-shaped  Piazza  della  Signoria. 

But  of  all  the  works  undertaken  by  the  community, 
the  chief  was  the  building  of  a  cathedral.  From  a 
very  early  time  a  church  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  had 
existed  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Duomo;  and 
here,  in  still  more  ancient  days,  had  stood,  it  is  said,  a 
temple  dedicated  to  Minerva ;  for  it  had  been  ordained 


90     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

of  God,  says  one  of  the  Sienese  authors  most  in  repute, 
"  that  the  city  which,  under  the  light  of  the  Gospel, 
was  to  be  consecrated  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  should 
cherish,  even  in  the  darkness  of  paganism,  the  worship 
of  the  goddesses  most  renowned  for  chastity — Minerva 
and  Diana."  * 

The  position  was  well  chosen  for  the  site  of  the 
principal  sacred  edifice  of  the  city.  Siena  encloses 
within  its  walls  a  curiously  broken  surface  of  hill  and 
valley.  The  sharp  contrasts  of  level  give  to  the  town 
a  striking  picturesqueness  of  aspect.  On  the  top  of 
one  of  the  heights,  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the 
ravine-like  valley  beneath  it,  rises  the  cathedral,  seem- 
ing alike  to  crown  and  to  keep  watch  over  the  city. 
Its  rectangular  Campanile  lifts  itself  high  above  the 
city  walls,  matched  only  by  the  lighter  and  more 
aspiring  tower  of  the  Palace  of  the  Republic  standing 
on  the  Campo  below.  Round  the  feet  of  these  towers, 
symbols  of  the  religious  devotion  and  civic  indepen- 
dence of  the  restless  but  vigorous  little  republic,  the 
turbulent  life  of  Siena  whirled  and  eddied ;  and  now 
that  her  life  has  run  low,  her  power  gone,  her  glory 
become  a  mere  memory,  these  towers  stand  as  the 
monuments  of  her  former  proud  self,  and  of  a  noble 
spirit  and  eager  energies  long  since  extinct. 

But  when  the  cathedral  was  building  there  was 
blood  enough  in  the  veins  of  the  Sienese,  and  their 
pulses  were  quickened  by  the  work.  Its  magnificence 

*  Gigli,  Diario  Sanese,  Lucca,  1723,  parte  ii.  p.  426. 


THE  DUOMO  A  CIVIC   WORK.  gx 

was  not  only  the  proof  of  their  devotion,  but  the  sign 
of  their  strength,  and  of  the  abundance  of  their  re- 
sources. It  was  to  be  as  well  the  envy  of  neighboring 
cities  as  the  delight  of  their  own.  It  was  a  civic,  much 
more  than  an  ecclesiastical,  work ;  and  the  votes  of  a 
majority  in  the  popular  assembly  determined  not  only 
how  it  should  be  carried  on,  but  elected  the  architect 
and  the  overseers  who  were  to  be  engaged  on  the 
building.  Bishop  and  clergy  exercised  no  authority 
over  it.  The  lay  democracy  were  the  rulers  in  all  that 
concerned  it. 

Of  the  existing  Duomo  probably  no  visible  portion 
belongs  to  an  earlier  date  than  the  second  quarter  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  But  the  Duomo,  as  it  now 
stands,  grew  out  of  an  earlier  building  by  successive 
modifications  and  additions.  In  the  preceding  century 
the  Sienese  had  been  at  work  on  the  church,  and  the 
Campanile,  one  of  the  finest  in  Italy,  is  said  to  have 
been  begun  in  1146,  built  up  upon  the  solid  founda- 
tions of  one  of  those  towers  for  defence  which  formed 
an  essential  part  of  the  city  habitation,  half  fortress, 
half  palace,  of  every  great  family.*  There  is  a  tradi- 

*  The  number  of  such  towers  in  Siena,  as  in  other  Italian  cities,  at 
this  time,  was  very  great,  and  gave  characteristic  picturesqueness  to 
its  aspect: 

"  Turribus  et  celsis  consurgunt  mcenia  pinnis 
Exornantque  suam  tectis  sublimibus  urbem." 

A  description  of  the  towers  of  Pavia,  written  about  the  year  1300, 
would  serve  for  Siena  as  well :  "  Quasi  omnes  ecclesiae  habent  turres 
excelsas  propter  campanas,  etc.  Ceterarum  autem  turrium  super  lai- 
corum  domibus  excelsarum  mirabiliter  maximus  est  numerus,  ex  qui- 


92     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

tion  that  the  Pope  Alexander  III.,  a  Sienese  by  birth, 
the  Pope  who,  according  to  the  legend,  put  his  foot  on 
the  neck  of  Frederic  Barbarossa  prostrate  before  him 
in  the  vestibule  of  St.  Mark's — there  is  a  tradition  that 
Alexander,  during  a  stay  in  Siena  in  1 1 79,  consecrated 
the  then  existing  church.  It  seems  likely,  however, 
the  building  was  not  then  complete,  for  there  exist 
numerous  records  of  work  done  on  the  Duomo  in  the 
early  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  though  little  is 
known  of  its  exact  nature. 

With  the  growth  of  the  city  and  the  increasing  pros- 
perity of  the  citizens,  the  need  was  felt  of  a  larger  and 
finer  church.  The  splendid  Cathedral  of  Pisa,  not  far 
off,  was  a  goad  to  the  pride  and  the  vanity  of  the  Si- 
enese. The  old  forms  of  building,  in  which  the  an- 
cient tradition  of  Roman  art  had  maintained  suprem- 
acy, no  longer  satisfied  the  newly  aroused  creative  in- 
telligence of  the  mediaeval  communities.  Italy  took 
hints  of  .Gothic  construction  and  form  from  the  build- 
ers of  Northern  cathedrals  and  castles,  but  she  never 
adopted  the  style  as  her  own.  Her  builders  were 
stimulated  to  their  utmost  endeavors  by  the  wonders 

bus  multae  tarn  ex  vetustate,  quam  studio  civium  se  invicem  persequen- 
tium  ceciderunt."  The  author  of  the  little  Chronicle  of  Ferrara,  writ- 
ing near  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  telling  of  the  discords 
of  the  citizens,  introduces  a  charming  touch  of  nature  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  party  strifes :  "  Audivi  a  majoribus  natu,  quod  in  quadra- 
ginta  annorum  curriculo  altera  pars  alteram  decies  a  civitate  extru- 
serat.  Accepi  puer  a  genitore  meo,  hiberno  tempore  confabulante  in 
lare,  quod  ejus  tempore  viderat  in  civitate  Ferrariae  turres  altas  tri- 
ginta  duas,  quas  mox  vidit  prosterni  et  dirui."  Cited  by  Muratori, 
Antick.  ItaL,  tomo  i.  parte  2,  p.  205. 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  TUSCANY.  93 

of  the  development  of  the  pointed  arch ;  but  they  held 
true,  for  the  most  part,  to  their  inherited  principles  of 
construction  and  of  ornament.  The  Gothic  structures 
in  Italy  stand  on  Roman  foundations.  But  at  this  mo- 
ment Tuscany  was  inspired  with  zeal  to  build  after  the 
Gothic  manner.  Florence,  Pisa,  Lucca,  Prato,  Pistoia, 
and  many  a  less  noted  town,  were  rebuilding,  or  propos- 
ing to  rebuild,  their  old  churches  according  to  the  new 
style ;  and  so  it  was  in  Siena.  The  edifice  dates  it- 
self. Its  character  indicates  that  it  belongs,  in  general 
scheme  at  least,  to  the  thirteenth  century,  but  it  indi- 
cates also  that  it  was  not,  like  the  Duomo  of  Orvieto, 
erected  according  to  a  plan  carefully  laid  out  in  ad- 
vance, and  closely  adhered  to  in  the  progress  of  the 
work ;  but  that  it  rather  grew  up  in  the  course  of  a 
hundred  years,  part  by  part,  with  many  variations  of 
design,  its  successive  architects  seeking  only  to  pre- 
serve a  general  harmony  of  effect,  with  little  considera- 
tion of  exact  conformity  of  parts  or  of  precise  regular- 
ity of  execution. 

Malavolti,  the  trustworthy  historian  of  Siena,  states 
that  the  new  church  was  begun  in  1245,  and,  in  the 
absence  of  contemporary  records,  this  date  may  be  as- 
sumed as  that  of  the  earliest  visible  part  of  the  exist- 
ing cathedral.* 

*  Malavolti's  words  are :  "  Nel  medesimo  anno  [1245]  i  Sanesi  volendo 
accrescer  la  lor  chiesa  catedrale,  la  quale  non  essendo  molto  grande, 
non  era  capace  ne'  giorni  piii  solenni  a  ricever  '1  popolo  di  quella  citta, 
poi  ch'  ella  s'  era  cosi  ripiena  d'  habitatori,  ch'  in  quel  tempo  faceva 
undicimila  ottocento  famiglie."  Historia,  Venetia,  1599,  parte  i.  p.  62  b. 


94     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

Although  records  concerning  the  origin  and  first 
progress  of  the  design  are  wanting,  yet  contemporary 
documents  remain  which  show  the  methods  adopted 
by  the  commune  in  the  carrying-on  of  the  building, 
and  illustrate  the  relation  of  the  people,  and  of  the 
authorities  elected  -by  them,  to  what  was  called  dis- 
tinctively L  Opera,  or  "  The  Work." 

In  the  Archives  of  State  at  Siena  there  is  a  manu- 
script volume  of  the  statutes  of  the  commune,  com- 
piled about  1260.  Among  other  matter  of  great  inter- 
est, it  contains  various  ordinances  regulating  the  du- 
ties of  the  magistracy  in  respect  to  the  Duomo.  They 
are  not  all  of  one  date,  but  all  are  to  be  regarded  as 
in  force  at  the  time  of  the  compiling  of  the  statute.* 
Their  form  is  that  of  an  oath  of  the  Podesta,  or  chief 
magistrate  of  the  city.  He  was  elected  annually,  and 
upon  taking  office  he  was  obliged  to  swear  to  main- 
tain the  statutes  of  the  commune.  The  first  article 
concerns  the  Duomo,  the  Podesta  swearing  that,  within 
a  month  from  the  beginning  of  his  rule,  he  will  cause 
the  master  of  the  works  to  take  oath  to  pay  over 
whatever  moneys  for  the  work  may  come  to  his  hands 
to  three  legates  homines  de  p&nitentia,  chosen  by  the 
Bishop,  the  Consuls  of  the  Trades,  and  the  twenty-four 

*  This  volume  bears  the  title  of  Statuto  Senese,  No.  2.  The  Sienese 
archives  are  exceedingly  rich  in  documents  relating  to  the  early  mu- 
nicipal history  of  the  city,  full  of  important  and  curious  material  il- 
lustrating the  social  and  political  conditions  of  Tuscany  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  They  are  admirably  arranged  and  cared  for.  The  his- 
tory of  mediaeval  Italy  must  be  studied  and  rewritten  in  the  archives 
of  its  cities.  See  App.  I.  "  Documents  relating  to  the  Duomo."  No.  I. 


STATUTES  RELATING   TO   THE  DUOMO.  g$ 

Priors  of  the  City,  and  that  he  will  oblige  these  three 
men  to  take  upon  themselves  the  debts  of  the  work, 
and  to  render  accounts  every  three  months  to  the 
Council  of  the  Bell  and  of  the  People.* 

In  the  next  clause  the  Podesta  swears  to  summon 
the  Council  of  the  Bell  during  the  month  of  January, 
to  provide  for  the  appointment  of  men  who  shall  audit 
the  accounts  and  determine  how  the  building  shall  be 
proceeded  \vith,  and  whether  there  shall  be  one  master 
of  the  works  or  more. 

Subsequent  clauses  provide  the  mode  of  expending 
any  balance  of  money  that  may  remain  in  the  hands 
of  the  master  of  the  works,  and  ordain  that  all  persons 
who  may  receive  contributions  for  the  building  shall 
take  oath  to  pay  them  over  without  diminution  to  the 
proper  authorities.  They  further  provide  that  marble 
quarried  for  the  building  shall  be  brought  into  the  city 
at  public  cost;  that  ten  master-workmen  shall  be  em- 
ployed every  year  on  the  building  at  the  expense  of 

*  The  Consilium  Campancs  et  Populi  was  the  chief  legislative  assem- 
bly of  the  city.  It  was  composed  of  three  hundred  citizens,  one  hun- 
dred being  chosen  by  popular  vote  from  each  terzo,  or  third  of  the 
city,  to  whom,  in  certain  cases,  fifty  more  were  added.  It  met  at  irregu- 
lar intervals,  generally  as  often  as  once  or  twice  a  week,  and  derived 
its  name  from  the  bell  by  whose  sound  it  was  convoked.  Its  meetings 
were  usually  held  in  the  Church  of  St.  Christopher,  which  still  stands 
on  the  Piazza  de'  Tolomei,  facing  the  palace  of  the  family  after  whom 
the  square  is  named,  one  of  the  finest  early  Gothic  palaces  in  Italy. 
The  old  walls  of  the  church  remain,  but  the  facade  and  the  interior 
have  been  modernized  and  spoiled.  The  records  of  the  Consigtio  della 
Campana  exist  in  the  archives,  almost  unbroken,  from  the  year  1252, 
and  are  among  the  most  important  sources  for  the  history  of  the  re- 
public. 


96    SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

% 

the  commune;  that  these  masters  shall  take  oath  to 
work  in  summer  as  well  as  in  winter,  and  for  the  same 
wages,  dona  fide,  sine  fraude,  siculi  in  proprio  suo  labo- 
rarent,  and  to  do  no  other  work  unless  by  special  per- 
mission of  the  Podesta ;  that  in  January  of  each  year 
the  Podesta  and  the  Captain,  and  the  Consuls  of  the 
Trades  and  the  Priors  of  the  City,  shall  make  all  need- 
ful provision  for  the  progress  of  the  work,  et  super 
omnibus  utilitatibus  faciendis  pro  dicto  opere ;  that  all 
citizens  of  Siena,  owners  of  beasts  of  burden,  shall, 
twice  a  year,  bring  loads  of  marble  to  the  work,  on 
condition  that  the  Bishop  shall  give  to  such  persons 
for  each  load  indulgence  of  one  year  for  penance  im- 
posed on  them;  and,  finally,  that  a  judge  shall  be  ap- 
pointed who  shall  decide  summarily,  sine  solempnitate 
judiciorum,  in  all  matters  of  dispute  concerning  the 
works,  and  shall  order  payment  of  whatever  is  due  to 
them,  and  that  his  judgments  shall  be  executed  by  the 
Podesta  or  other  civil  authorities. 

These  provisions,  standing  as  they  do  at  the  veiy 
head  of  the  ancient  Sienese  code,  clearly  exhibit  the 
popular  and  municipal  character  of  the  work,  and 
indicate  the  feeling  with  which  it  was  regarded  as  a 
sacred  charge,  the  chief  of  the  concerns  of  the  com- 
mune. 

The  construction  of  so  great  and  so  magnificent  an 
edifice  as  the  people  had  resolved  that  their  Duomo 
should  be  was  a  work  to  demand  not  only  vast  labor, 
but  enormous  expense.  But  the  proud  and  prosper- 


SOURCES  OF  FUND  FOR  BUILDING.  97 

ous  Sienese  counted  no  cost  too  heavy.  The  contri- 
butions of  individuals,  the  offerings  of  zeal  or  super- 
stition, and  sums  voted  from  time  to  time  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  the  Bell,  supplied  a  considerable  part  of  the  fund 
for  building.*  The  Bishop  and  canons  of  the  church 
had  large  revenues,  of  which  a  portion  may  have  been 
expended  for  the  same  object.! 

But  the  fund  was  also  increased  by  the  offerings 
made  every  year,  at  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption  of 
the  Virgin,  the  i5th  of  August,  by  the  citizens  of  Si- 
ena and  by  the  towns  and  cities  subject  to  her  domin- 
ion. These  offerings  were  in  money,  or  more  gen- 
erally in  candles,  or  wax  for  candles.  As  early  as 
1 200  an  ordinance  was  passed  that  every  inhabitant 
of  the  city  and  of  its  suburbs  between  the  ages  of 
eighteen  and  seventy  should,  under  penalty  of  one 
hundred  soldi,  offer  a  wax-candle  at  the  Duomo  on 
the  vigil  of  the  Madonna  of  August,  the  Madonna  of 
the  Assumption,  to  whom  the  church  was  dedicated.^: 
Whenever  Siena  added  a  new  village  or  town  to  her 
rule,  whether  by  peaceful  means  or  by  force,  a  clause 

*  It  was  an  old  rule  of  the  Canon  that  one  fourth  of  the  revenue  and 
of  the  offerings  should  be  assigned  to  the  church  fabric.  "  Quatuor 
autem  tarn  de  reditu  quam  de  oblatione  fidelium  .  .  .  convenit  fieri 
portiones ;  quarum  sit  una  pontificis,  altera  clericorum,  tertia  paupe- 
rum,  quarta  fabricis  applicanda."  Codex  Canonum  Ecclesiasttcorum  et 
Constttutorum  S.  Sedts  Apost.  cap.  Iviii.  §  xxiii. 

t  The  Bishop  of  Siena  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  prelates  of 
Northern  Italy.  His  feudal  possessions  embraced  a  rich  and  extensive 
territory,  over  which  he  exercised  exclusive  jurisdiction,  and  from 
which  he  exacted  a  large  annual  tribute. 

\  Archivio  del  Duomo,  Perg.  108. 

7 


98     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

was  inserted  in  the  giuramento,  or  oath  of  submission, 
binding  the  subject  community  to  the  offering  of  can- 
dles at  the  Duomo  on  the  great  feast  of  August,  which 
still  remains  the  chief  festival  of  the  Sienese  calendar.* 
Nor  were  these  offerings  of  wax- candles  the  only 
tribute  exacted  by  Siena  from  her  subjects  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  church  building.  Many  a  robber  chieftain 
of  the  Maremma  or  baron  of  the  mountains  was  forced, 
during  the  thirteenth  century,  to  submit  himself,  his 
castle,  and  his  lands  in  feud  to  Siena,  and,  as  a  sign  of 
his  submission,  to  make  offering  each  year  with  his 

*  In  1204,  for  instance,  the  town  of  Montelatrone,  giving  herself  to 
Siena,  promises  to  send  every  year  a  candle  of  twelve  pounds  of  wax, 
on  the  feast  of  S.  Maria,  in  August,  provided  that  the  expenses  of  the 
bearers  of  it  be  defrayed  by  the  authorities  of  Siena.  In  1232,  Chiusi, 
making  league  with  her  more  powerful  neighbor,  promises  to  send  a 
"  cero,"  or  wax-candle,  every  year,  according  to  custom.  A  hundred 
years  later,  when  the  town  of  Foseni  submitted  to  Sienese  dominion,  it 
promised  that  every  year,  at  the  Feast  of  S.  Maria  d'  Agosto,  its  syndic 
should  carry  to  the  Duomo  of  Siena,  in  token  of  subjection,  "unum 
cerum  de  cera  foliatum,  ponderis  xxv  libr.  cere,"  and  that  he  should  be 
accompanied  by  eight  householders  of  the  town,  each  bringing  a  can- 
dle of  one  pound  in  weight.  In  1224  the  city  of  Grosseto,  having  re- 
belled against  Siena,  and  being  brought  anew  under  her  rule,  promised, 
among  other  terms  of  submission,  to  send  every  year  to  Siena,  on  the 
Feast  of  the  Assumption,  fifty  of  its  citizens,  each  of  whom  should 
present  a  wax-candle  to  the  Opera,  or  Board  of  Works,  of  the  Duomo. 
So,  too,  four  years  later,  the  Ghibelline  exiles  from  Montepulciano, 
making  league  with  Siena,  pledged  themselves  that  when  with  her  aid 
they  should  be  restored  to  the  control  of  their  city,  they  would  every 
year,  on  the  same  feast,  send  their  chamberlain,  accompanied  by  fifty 
cavaliers,  to  offer  at  the  cathedral  a  wax -candle  of  fifty  pound's  in 
weight. 

For  the  last  two  instances,  see  Malavolti,  Hhtorza,  parte  i.  pp.  51,  52. 
The  preceding  I  have  taken  from  the  series  of  records  known  as  the 
Caleffo  Vecchio,  in  the  Archives  at  Siena,  each  under  its  respective  year. 
The  list  might  be  greatly  extended.  See  Appendix  I.  Document  II. 


FESTIVAL  OF   THE  MADONNA   OF  AUGUST.       gg 

own  hand  of  a  certain  number  of  silver  marks  on  the 
high-altar  of  the  cathedral.* 

The  festival  of  the  Madonna  of  August,  as  the  Sien- 
ese  termed  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption,  was  the 
most  striking  and  picturesque  of  the  civil  and  re- 
ligious ceremonies  of  her  year.  But  the  contempo- 
rary mediaeval  chroniclers,  finding  the  times  in  which 
they  lived  as  prosaic  as  the  present  always  is  except  to 
the  poet,  took  little  pains  to  note  the  details  of  even 
the  most  impressive  scenes  of  which  they  were  wit- 
nesses, and  have  left  no  description  of  the  festival. 
The  facts  concerning  it  to  be  gathered  from  scattered 
sources  are,  however,  enough  to  enable  us  to  depict  it 
in  part,  though  the  liveliest  fancy  may  well  fail  to  re- 
produce it  in  all  its  variety  of  aspect  and  brilliancy  of 
color.  On  the  vigil  of  the  feast,  a  procession  of  the 
citizens,  arranged  under  the  ensigns  of  their  trades  or 
the  banners  of  their  parishes,  and  in  their  distinctive 
costumes,  headed  by  the  nobles  of  the  city  in  their 
most  splendid  apparel,  and  accompanied  by  the  magis- 
tracy in  their  garb  of  office,  was  conducted  with  sol- 
emn pomp  to  the  cathedral,  there  to  take  part  in  the 
sacred  services,  and  to  lay  their  offerings  on  the  high- 
altar.  That  evening,  or  the  next  day,  the  deputies  of 
the  cities,  castles,  and  villages  under  the  dominion  of 
Siena,  each  delegation  in  ceremonial  robes,  together 
with  the  counts  and  barons  who  owed  allegiance  to  the 
city,  presented  themselves  with  their  due  tribute,  their 

*  Malavolti,  Historia,  parte  ii.  p.  28  b. 


100  SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

pride  soothed  by  the  fact  that  the  symbol  of  their  sub- 
jection had  the  form  of  an  offering  in  the  service  of 
the  Lord.  The  solemn  and  splendid  ministrations  of 
the  church  were  made  more  magnificent  by  the  stately 
order  of  the  processions,  the  display  of  gay  and  costly 
dresses,  the  gleaming  of  armor  and  the  waving  of  in- 
numerable banners.  It  was  a  proud  sight  for  Siena  as 
she  watched  the  defile  through  her  narrow  and  em- 
battled streets  of  band  after  band  of  the  envoys  of  the 
towns  that  acknowledged  her  sway,  and  of  the  nobles 
whom  she  had  compelled  to  become  her  vassals,  and  it 
was  no  wonder  that  for  a  befitting  stage  for  the  closing 
scene  of  such  a  spectacle  she  was  resolved  to  have  a 
cathedral  that  should  not  be  surpassed  by  any  other  in 
Tuscany. 

Whether  all  the  offerings  made,  and  all  the  tribute 
paid  on  the  1 5th  of  August,  went  to  the  advancement 
of  the  work  of  construction  cannot  be  told ;  but  that  a 
large  portion  of  them  did  so  there  is  no  doubt.  The 
candles  were  disposed  of  for  the  benefit  of  the  build- 
ing fund,  and  the  money  was  paid  directly  into  the 
hands  of  the  officer  duly  authorized  to  receive  it  and 
expend  it  in  the  prosecution  of  the  works.* 

*  The  profitable  disposal  of  the  great  quantity  of  candles  received  in 
tribute  was  secured  by  the  large  and  constant  demand  for  them  by  per- 
sons wishing  to  burn  candles  at  the  shrine  of  the  Madonna  or  of  a 
favorite  saint,  in  fulfilment  of  a  vow  or  for  the  obtaining  of  some 
grace ;  and  also  by  their  use  in  the  frequent  religious  processions  by 
which  the  popular  piety  was  both  manifested  and  stimulated.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  sale  of  candles  offered  by  the  faithful  was  one  of 
the  chief  common  resources  for  obtaining  means  to  carry  on  the  work 


EARLIEST  RECORDS  OF  BUILDING. 

Besides  the  sources  of  revenue  already  enumerated, 
there  were  not  infrequent  legacies  to  the  Opera;*  and 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  thirteenth  century  the 
resources  for  building  seem  to  have  been  ample,  with- 
out recourse  to  any  extraordinary  means  for  stimulat- 
ing the  zeal  and  good-will  of  the  community  towards 
the  work. 

The  earliest  documents  known  to  exist  relating  to 
the  building  of  the  actual  Duomo  are  of  the  year  1259. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Consiglio  della  Campana,  held  in 

of  church-building.  In  1 260,  after  the  victory  of  Montaperti,  the  Sienese 
resolved  to  erect  a  church  in  honor  of  St.  George,  and  the  popular 
Council  passed  an  ordinance,  "  De  cereis  portandis  ad  ecclesiam  Sancti 
Georgii  in  ejus  festivitate"  the  second  chapter  of  which  runs  as  follows  : 
"  Ut  cerei  portati  ad  ecclesiam  Sancti  Georgii  in  festivitate  convertan- 
tur  in  ejus  utilitatem.  Et  predicti  cerei  convertantur  in  constructionem 
ecclesie  supradicte ;  et  idem  fiat  de  aliis  cereis  omnibus  qui  in  festivi- 
tate predicta  vel  in  vigilia  ipsius  festivitatis  portabuntur  ad  dictam  ec- 
clesiam. Et  omnes  dicti  cerei,  quolibet  anno  in  dicto  festo  debeant 
pervenire  ad  manus  operarii  ecclesie  nove  Sancti  Georgii,  vel  trium  bo- 
norum  hominum  de  populo  dicte  ecclesie,  si  operarius  non  esset,  qui 
teneantur  dictos  cereos  recipere,  et  eos  convertere  in  constructionem 
dicte  ecclesie."  See  La  Battaglia  di  Montaperti,  di  Cesare  Paoli,  Siena, 
1869,  8vo.  Documente  V.  pp.  80,  81.  See  also,  for  similar  facts,  the 
terms  of  the  agreement  between  the  masters  "dell'  arte  della  pietra" 
and  the  operaio  of  the  Duomo  concerning  the  construction  of  an  altar 
for  the  stonecutters'  guild,  November  4,  1368;  Milanesi,  Documenti per 
la  Storia  dell'  Arte  Senese,  Siena,  1854-56,  tomo  i.  p.  266.  See  Muratori, 
Antich.  Ital.  tomo  iii.  parte  i.  p.  242,  for  illustrations  of  the  prevalence 
of  this  custom  of  offering  candles  or  wax. 

*  In  the  Archivio  del  Duomo  there  are  many  records  of  such  legacies. 
For  instance,  in  the  year  1235,  Perg.  178;  in  1246  one  Alessio  del  gia 
Guglielmo  leaves  his  possessions  to  the  Hospital  of  S.  Maria  di  Siena, 
on  condition  that  every  year,  in  perpetuo,  till  the  Duomo  be  finished, 
twelve  measures  ("staja")  of  grain  be  paid  to  the  Opera,  Perg.  198; 
and  to  this  bequest  he  adds,  by  a  codicil,  a  legacy  of  ten  lire  in  money, 
Perg.  199;  other  legacies  are  recorded  in  1250,  1257,  1258,  1259,  1265, 
and  many  subsequent  years. 


102  SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

the  Church  of  St.  Christopher,  on  the  i6th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1259,  it  was  voted  that  nine  judicious  men  ("sapi- 
entes  viri"),  three  from  each  of  the  local  divisions,  or 
terzi,  of  the  city,  should  be  appointed  to  consult  with 
the  Master  of  the  Works ;  and  that  they  should  see 
and  determine  what  best  may  be  done  in  the  church ; 
and  that  whatever  all  or  a  majority  of  their  number 
should  order,  so  it  should  be  done.* 

On  the  28th  of  November  the  nine  "sapientes  viri" 
render  their  reports,  a  majority  of  six  recommending 
one  course,  the  minority  another.  This  division  of 
opinion  seems  to  have  prevented  immediate  action,  and 
ten  weeks  later,  on  the  nth  of  February,  1259-60,!  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Consiglio,  it  was  agreed  ("fuit  in  con- 
cordia")  to  appoint  a  new  committee  of  nine  good  men 
("  boni  homines"),  with  a  similar  charge,  to  direct  what 
work  should  be  done  at  the  Duomo.  Accordingly,  on 
the  2Oth  of  the  month,  the  nine  good  men  being  met 
in  the  cathedral,  and  the  name  of  Christ  being  in- 
voked, they  unanimously  agree  in  ordering  Fra  Me- 
lano,  Master  of  the  Works,  to  vault  the  space  between 
the  two  last  marble  columns  and  the  rear  wall  of  the 
church,  and  to  do  some  other  less  important  work. 
Three  months  later  the  same  committee  of  nine — "  no- 

*  This  and  the  following  documents  referred  to  of  the  same  and  the 
next  year  are  printed  by  Milanesi  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Documenti. 
The  originals  are  in  the  Archives  of  State,  having  been  transferred 
thither,  with  other  early  records,  from  the  Archives  of  the  Opera  del 
Duomo. 

\  The  Sienese  year,  like  the  Florentine,  began  on  the  25th  of  March, 
the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation. 


PROGRESS  OF  WORK  IN  1260. 

biles  viri  boni  electi  et  positi  a  consilio  comunis  et 
populi  Senensis  qualiter  procedatur  in  opere  sancte 
Marie  et  quomodo  ibi  laboretur" — direct  Brother  Me- 
lano  to  construct,  between  the  two  next  columns,  three 
more  vaults  like  those  just  made,  and  also  to  vault  the 
part  of  the  church  between  the  altar  of  St.  Bartholomew 
and  the  door  near  to  it.  But  the  vaulting  just  com- 
pleted, whether  it  had  been  constructed  too  hastily  or 
with  insufficient  skill,  was  already  giving  signs  of  weak- 
ness; and  on  the  gih  of  June  twelve  master-workmen 
employed  on  the  building,  and  two  other  master-build- 
ers not  so  employed,  were  consulted  as  to  its  stability. 
Their  advice  was  that  the  vaults  should  not  be  thrown 
down  and  rebuilt  on  account  of  the  cracks  apparent  in 
them,  "  because,"  they  say,  "  other  vaults  to  be  made 
next  them  may  be  so  well  joined  to  them  that  they  will 
not  open  any  farther ;  nor  are  the  said  vaults  in  which 
the  cracks  exist  at  all  weakened  by  these  fissures." 

Here  all  information  concerning  the  progress  of  the 
building  in  this  year  comes  to  an  end.  But,  besides 
the  vivid  illustration  these  documents  afford  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  work  was  conducted,  and  of  the 
active  supervision  of  the  community  over  it,  they  throw 
a  strong  light  on  the  spirit  of  the  Sienese  at  one  of  the 
most  critical  periods  of  their  history.  The  year  1260 
is  the  most  famous  in  the  annals  of  Siena.  While  she 
was  thus  busy  with  her  cathedral,  she  was  still  busier 
in  making  preparations  for  a  war  in  which  her  very 
existence  as  an  independent  city  was  at  stake. 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

The  long  contentions  during  the  first  half  of  the  cen- 
tury between  the  Emperor  Frederic  II.  and  successive 
popes  had  imbittered  the  great  party  strife  throughout 
Italy  between  Guelf  and  Ghibelline.  Though  the  con- 
flicting ideas  represented  by  these  names  were  often 
lost  sight  of  in  the  heats  of  civil  faction  or  domestic 
feuds,  or  partially  reconciled  in  alliances  contracted 
under  the  influence  of  temporary  but  powerful  inter- 
ests, and  Guelf  might,  in  the  confusion  of  the  times,  be 
found  fighting  against  the  Pope,  and  Ghibelline  against 
the  Emperor,  yet  in  the  main  the  Guelfs  were  constant 
in  opposition  to  the  domination  of  a  foreign  ruler  in 
Italy,  favoring  the  increase  of  popular  liberties  as  the 
surest  mode  of  securing  the  independence  of  their  sev- 
eral cities,  and  hence  the  independence  and  unity  of 
Italy ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Ghibellines  sought, 
in  their  support  of  the  Emperor,  who  maintained,  to 
the  imagination  at  least,  the  ancient  imperial  tradition, 
to  provide  a  strong  feudal  head  for  the  State,  under 
whose  rule  existing  privileges  and  liberties  would  be 
safe,  civil  discord  repressed,  and  the  natural  grades 
of  orderly  society  preserved.  The  very  bitterness  of 
the  hatred  between  these  two  parties  was  an  indication 
of  the  strength  of  the  common  passion  and  principle 
which  in  reality  underlay  all  differences — the  princi- 
ple of  communal  independence,  the  passion  for  the 
unity  of  Italy.  Each  Tuscan  city  was  in  turn  ruled 
now  by  one  party  and  now  by  the  other,  according  as 
the  leaders  of  one  or  the  other  gained  forces  and  ad- 


EFFECT  OF  DEATH  OF  FREDERIC  II. 

herents.  The  history  of  Italy  during  this  period  is  a 
record  of  woes  wrought  by  these  fatal  divisions — a  rec- 
ord of  wars,  treasons,  banishments,  confiscations,  and 
ruin  repeating  themselves,  with  mournful  monotony, 
year  after  year ;  fruitless  victory  alternating  with  fruit- 
less defeat,  the  victors  of  one  season  becoming  the 
vanquished  the  next* 

The  death  of  Frederic,  in  1250,  depressed  the  spirit 
even  more  than  it  weakened  the  strength  of  the  Ghib- 
ellines.  The  striking  individuality  of  his  strong  char- 
acter, the  rare  qualities  of  his  genius,  and  the  unusual 
fortune  that  attended  him  had  deeply  impressed  the 
imaginations  of  his  friends  and  his  enemies  alike.  He 
had  been  the  "wonder  of  mankind."  Freed  from  the 
dread  of  his  long-reaching  arm,  Florence,  always  Guelf 
at  heart,  called  back  those  of  her  citizens  who  had  been 

*  The  chronicles  of  the  Italian  cities,  both  North  and  South,  are  full 
of  pictures  of  the  wretchedness  produced  by  party  divisions  and  pas- 
sions. Freedom  from  strife  is  nowhere  to  be  found ;  there  is  neither 
quiet  nor  security. 

"  Cerca,  misera,  intorno  dalle  prode 
Le  tue  marine,  e  poi  ti  guarda  in  seno, 
S'  alcuna  parte  in  te  di  pace  gode." 

Malavolti,  speaking  of  the  hate  of  Guelf  and  Ghibelline,  says,  "  Ne  ci 
rimase  alcun  popolo  che  non  fusse  infettato  da  quella  pernitiocissima 
contagione,  per  la  quale,  senza  haverne  altra  causa,  combatteva  1'  uno 
con  1'  altro,  con  nimicitia  mortale,  e  non  solamente  una  citta  contra 
all'  altra,  ma  le  medesime  citta  divise  in  queste  fattioni  combattevano 
infra  di  loro ;  havendo  ciascuna  parte,  non  solo  differenti  le  sue  in- 
segne,  con  le  quali  usciva  alle  guerre,  ma  haveva  differentiati  i  colori, 
il  portar  de  gli  habiti,  i  gesti  della  persona,  et  ogni  minima  cosa ;  tanto 
che  dall'  aspetto  solamente  si  potevan  conoscere  i  Guelfi  da  Ghibellini ; 
e  non  solo  eran  tra  Sanesi  queste  division!,  ma  .  .  .  era  nato  nuovo 
disparere  tra  molti  cittadini."  Historia,  parte  i.  p.  61  b. 


I06  SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

in  exile,  expelled  some  of  the  leading  Ghibellines,  and 
put  herself  at  the  head  of  the  Guelf  interest  in  Tus- 
cany. But  the  rising  power  of  Manfred,  the  son  of 
Frederic,  and  now  King  of  Sicily,  soon  restored  hope 
to  the  Ghibellines,  and  inspired  them  with  new  bold- 
ness, so  that  the  Florentines,  fearing  the  designs  of 
the  great  Ghibelline  families  that  still  remained  within 
her  walls,  rose  against  them  in  1258,  and  in  a  tumult 
of  popular  fury  tore  down,  sacked,  and  burned  their 
houses,  murdered  some  of  the  chief  among  them,  and 
drove  the  rest  to  flight  and  exile.  Several  hundreds  of 
the  banished  Ghibellines,  with  Farinata  degli  Uberti,* 
one  of  the  most  marked  figures  of  the  time,  at  their 
head,  betook  themselves  to  Siena,  where  the  Ghibellines 
were  the  ruling  party.  Siena  was  noted  for  her  devo- 
tion to  the  imperial  cause.  She  received  the  exiles  with 
open  arms,  as  bringing  a  welcome  addition  to  her  war- 
like strength.  But  in  thus  sheltering  those  whom  Flor- 
ence had  driven  out,  Siena  quickened  into  flame  the 
always  smouldering  hate  of  her  jealous  and  overbearing 
neighbor.  For  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
the  two  commonwealths  had  been  in  open  hostility  or 
latent  enmity.  The  prosperity  of  one  was  an  offence 
to  the  other.  The  boundaries  of  one  were  the  limits 
to  the  territory  of  the  other,  and  disputes  were  com- 
mon along  the  variable  line,  affording  easy  occasion 

*  Few  readers  will  need  to  be  reminded  of  Dante's  interview  with 
"  quell'  altro  magnanimo,"  who  bore  himself  in  torment 

"Come  avesse  1'  Inferno  in  gran  dispitto." 


ALLIANCE  WITH  MANFRED. 

for  recourse  to  arms.    But  now  there  was  more  serious 
ground  of  quarrel. 

Siena  had  bound  herself  by  treaty  only  three  years 
before  not  to  receive  or  harbor  any  person  banished 
from  Florence.*  Siena  had  no  valid  excuse  for  her 
breach  of  faith ;  the  act  was  one  of  manifest  hostility 
to  Florence,  in  the  interest  of  the  cause  which  Siena 
had  at  heart.  From  within  her  walls  the  exiled  and 
impatient  Ghibellines  could  watch  their  chance,  and 
with  her  aid  make  good  their  return  to  their  own  city. 
Florence  could  not  endure  to  be  thus  threatened.  She 
sent  envoys  to  demand  the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty. 
The  Sienese,  encouraged  by  Manfred,  refused  to  send 
away  the  exiles.  She  drew  close  her  alliance  with  the 
king,  swearing  fealty  and  obedience  to  him,  and  he,  in 
return,  took  the  commune  formally  under  his  protec- 
tion, pledging  himself  to  maintain,  defend,  and  aid  it 
against  its  enemies,  whosoever  they  might  be.t  Mean- 

*  "  Aliquem  exbannitum  a  comuni  Florentine."  The  original  of  the 
treaty  is  in  the  Archives  of  State  at  Siena,  Pergamene  delle  Rtforma- 
gioni,  An.  1255.  Signer  Cesare  Paoli  has  printed  a  part  of  it  in  his  ex- 
cellent work  before  referred  to,  La  Battaglta  di  Montapertt,  Docu- 
menti,  p.  75. 

t  The  curious  instrument  by  which  Manfred,  in  May,  1259,  under- 
took the  protection  of  the  city  still  exists  in  the  Sienese  archives.  It 
has  been  printed  by  Malavolti,  parte  ii.  p.  2  ;  and  by  Saint-Priest,  Hist, 
de  la  Conqufaede  Naples  par  Charles  d'Anjou,  tome  i.  p.  360.  The  words 
of  Manfred's  promise  have  a  rhetorical  character  which  illustrates  a 
trait  in  his  personal  disposition :  "  Promittentes  a  modo  civitatem 
predictam  cum  omnibus  supradictis  manu  tenere,  defendere,  et  juvare 
contra  quoslibet  offensores,  et  sicut  nos  turrim  sue  fortitudinis  ele- 
gerunt,  sic  sub  felicis  Dominii  nostri  tempore  tranquilla  pace  qui- 
escant  et  suorum  emulorum  insultus  muniti  potentie  nostre  clypeo 
non  formident." 


I08     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

while  active  preparations  for  war  went  on  on  both 
sides.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1259  Manfred  made 
good  his  promise  by  sending  to  Siena,  as  his  vicar,  his 
cousin  Giordano  d'  Anglano,  Count  of  San  Severino, 
and  with  him  a  troop  of  mercenary  German  horse- 
men, several  hundred  strong.  During  the  winter  of 
1259-60  Siena,  besides  fitting  out  a  strong  force  to 
reduce  Grosseto  and  other  places  in  the  Maremma 
that  had  rebelled  against  her,  was  engaged  in  strength- 
ening her  walls,  in  laying  in  a  store  of  provisions,  and 
in  preparing  supplies  of  tents,  cross-bows,  and  other 
munitions  of  war  "  pro  conforto  nostrorum  et  pro  ter- 
rore  rebellium."  * 

On  the  igth  of  April  the  Florentine  forces  moved  out 
from  Florence,  and,  after  a  successful  campaign  in  the 
Maremma,  encamped  near  Siena  on  the  i  yth  of  May. 
The  next  morning  the  Count  Giordano,  at  the  head  of 
the  band  of  German  horse,  supported  by  a  small  body 
of  Sienese  infantry,  made  an  impetuous  sortie,  and 
routed  the  first  ranks  of  the  enemy ;  but,  overpowered 
by  numbers,  he  was  driven  back  with  great  loss,  leav- 
ing the  banner  of  King  Manfred  in  the  hands  of  the 
Guelfs.  But  the  vigor  of  this  sortie  seems  to  have 
convinced  the  Florentines  that  they  were  not  strong 
enough  to  reduce  the  city.  The  next  morning  their 
army  broke  camp  and  withdrew,  and  a  few  days  after 
re-entered  Florence  in  triumph,  with  a  number  of  pris- 

*  Consiglio  della  Campana,  Reg.  9,  car.  53.    See  Paoli,  La  Battaglia 
dt  Montaperti,  p.  19. 


PREPARATIONS  FOR    THE  STRUGGLE. 

oners,  and  with  the  royal  banner  of  Manfred  trailing 
in  the  mud.  It  was  while  these  events  were  taking 
place  that  Fra  Melano  was  building  the  new  vaults  at 
the  Duomo  and  the  discussion  as  to  their  stability  was 
going  on. 

Manfred  no  sooner  heard  of  the  triumph  of  the 
Guelfs  and  of  the  insult  that  had  been  offered  to  his 
banner,  than  he  sent  a  fresh  supply  of  mercenary  horse 
to  Siena,  while  the  Sienese  themselves,  feeling  that  the 
tug  of  war  was  yet  to  come,  strained  every  nerve  to 
prepare  for  the  struggle.* 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Guelfs  of  Florence  summon- 
ed all  their  allies  and  friends  to  join  forces  with  them 
for  an  expedition  that  should  put  an  end  at  once  to 
the  power  of  the  Tuscan  Ghibellines,  to  the  preten- 

*  The  chroniclers  of  Siena  and  Florence  differ,  as  is  natural,  in  their 
accounts  of  this  period,  and  of  the  battle  which  ended  it.  Much  legen- 
dary matter  is  mixed  with  the  truth.  The  Florentines  lay  great  stress 
on  the  part  played  by  the  exiles,  especially  by  Farinata  degli  Uberti, 
both  in  the  preliminary  events  and  in  the  final  combat.  It  was  sooth- 
ing to  their  pride  to  ascribe  the  largest  possible  share  of  the  eventual 
defeat  of  the  Florentine  Guelfs  to  the  arms  of  the  exiled  Floren- 
tine Ghibellines.  It  was  Florence  against  Florence ;  the  credit  of 
victory  remained  with  her.  But  the  Sienese  annalists  make  little 
count  of  the  aid  afforded  to  Siena  by  the  exiles.  Signor  Paoli,  in  his 
treatise  on  the  Battle  of  Montaperti,  has  carefully  sifted  the  conflicting 
narratives,  and  has  succeeded  in  reconciling  many  apparent  discrepan- 
cies. My  object  being  to  illustrate  the  character  of  Siena  at  the  time 
of  the  building  of  her  Cathedral,  it  is  needless  for  me  to  enter  into 
these  subordinate  questions.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  however,  that  so 
striking  a  personage  as  Farinata  finds  but  bare  mention  in  the  Sienese 
narratives.  One  reason  for  this  neglect  is,  doubtless,  that  he  was  the 
head  of  what  may  be  called  the  independent  Ghibellines  of  Tuscany, 
who  sought  to  make  a  party  by  themselves,  while  Siena  had  pledged 
fealty  to  Manfred,  and  united  her  cause  with  his. 


1 10     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

sions  of  Manfred  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  Northern 
Italy,  and  to  the  independence  and  prosperity  of  Siena. 
At  the  end  of  August  everything  was  ready,  and  the 
Guelf  army  moved  out  from  Florence  with  great  pa- 
rade and  jubilant  confidence  in  an  easy  victory.  Never 
before  had  so  large  a  force  set  forth  from  her  gates. 
All  her  own  men  of  arms,  excepting  a  scanty  guard- 
left  to  protect  the  city,  together  with  contingents  from 
Bologna,  Prato,  Volterra,  and  other  cities,  formed  the 
main  army  of  near  thirty  thousand  men,  while  detach- 
ments from  Orvieto,  .Perugia,  and  Assisi  were  on  the 
way  to  add  to  its  numbers.  At  the  head  of  the  army 
was  the  carroccio,  from  whose  tall  mast  floated  the  red- 
and-white  banner  of  Florence,  the  standard  and  signal 
for  the  whole  host.*  Siena  could  hardly  hope  to  de- 

*  The  carroccio,  or  "great  car,"  that  bore  the  standard  of  the  com- 
mune, was  a  symbol  of  independence  widely  in  use  among  the  free 
cities  of  Italy.  Its  invention  is  ascribed  to  Eriberto,  Archbishop  of 
Milan  in  the  eleventh  century.  It  was  universally  held  "as  a  thing 
venerable  and  sacred,"  guarded  with  greatest  care  in  time  of  peace, 
and  in  time  of  war  committed  to  the  charge  of  a  body  of  picked 
men  who  were  to  die  rather  than  desert  or  surrender  it.  On  oc- 
casion of  a  military  expedition  it  was  richly  adorned  and  drawn 
to  field  by  white  oxen,  or  oxen  in  white  trappings.  At  each  cor- 
ner of  the  car  stood  a  man  steadying,  by  a  rope  attached  to  its  top, 
the  mast  from  which  floated  the  banner  of  the  army.  On  the  plat- 
form from  which  the  mast  rose  was  hung  a  bell  that  sounded  on 
the  march,  and  was  rung  when  the  car  was  stationary  in  time  of 
battle.  Upon  this  platform  was  also  erected  an  altar  at  which  mass 
was  performed  previous  to  an  engagement,  and  on  any  distant  expedi- 
tion a  priest  attended  the  march  for  this  special  service.  When  a  halt 
was  made,  the  tent  of  the  captain  of  the  forces  was  set  up  by  the  car- 
roccio, the  signal  of  battle  was  given  from  it,  and  in  case  of  stress  or 
defeat  it  was  the  rallying-point  of  the  scattered  troops.  A  striking  de- 
scription of  the  carroccio  of  Florence  is  given  by  Ricordano  Malespini 


ADVANCE  OF  THE  GUELF  ARMY.  I:i 

fend  herself  successfully  against  such  a  host  of  ene- 
mies.    But  she  did  not  despair. 

Having  made  directly  for  Siena,  the  army  of  the 
Guelfs  encamped,  on  the  2d  of  September,  about  five 
miles  from  the  city,  in  the  valley  of  the  little  stream  of 
the  Biena,  surrounded  by  low  and  broken  ranges  of 
hills,  near  the  foot  of  a  height  called  Montaperti,  and 
not  far  from  the  banks  of  the  torrent  Arbia.  Trusting 
to  the  impression  made  by  their  overwhelming  force, 
envoys  were  sent  to  Siena  to  declare  the  will  of  the 
Florentines  that  the  wall  of  the  city  should  be  broken 
down  so  that  they  might  enter  where  they  liked,  and 
that  Siena  should  submit  herself  to  the  dominion  of 
Florence,  otherwise  she  was  to  expect  no  mercy.  The 
twenty- four  Signori,  who  at  the  time  composed  the 
chief  magistracy  of  the  city,  having  heard  the  message, 
said  to  the  envoys,  "  Return  to  your  people  and  tell 
them  a  reply  shall  be  given  them  by  word  of  mouth." 
Thereupon  the  Twenty-four  hastily  summoned  a  gen- 
eral council  in  the  Church  of  St.  Christopher  and  laid  be- 
fore it  the  demands  of  the  enemy.  Then,  according  to 
the  chronicle  of  Domenico  Aldobrandini,*  after  various 

in  his  History,  cap.  164.     For  a  further  account  of  its  use  in  various 
cities  see  Muratori,  Antich.  Ital.  tomo  i.  parte  2,  pp.  197-202. 

*  The  writer  of  this  chronicle  was  not  a  contemporary  narrator  of 
these  events.  The  portion  of  his  work  relating  to  the  Battle  of  Mon- 
taperti appears  to  have  been  drawn  mainly  from  current  popular  tradi- 
tion, and  has  a  freshness  and  directness  of  narrative  characteristic  of 
its  source.  This  portion  was  printed  in  1844  by  Signor  Porri  in  his 
Miscellanea  Storica  Sanese.  In  the  same  volume  is  an  account  of  the 
battle  composed  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  by  Niccolo 
di  Ventura.  It  adds  some  curious  and  picturesque  details  to  Aldo- 


H2     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

opinions  had  been  given,  "  Messer  Bandinello  coun- 
selled compliance  with  the  demand;  but  this  was  not 

agreed  to.     Then  the  counsel  of  Messer  Provenzano 
o 

Salvani*  was  agreed  to  that  they  should  send  for 
Messer  Giordano,  vicar  of  King  Manfred,  to  whom 
Siena  was  confided."  The  Count,  summoned  to  the 
council,  came  attended  by  some  of  the  officers  of  his 
troop  of  German  cavalry,  who,  as  soon  as  they  learned, 
through  an  interpreter,  the  demand  of  the  enemy, 
showed  every  sign  of  gladness.  The  assembly,  thus 
encouraged,  voted  double  pay  for  a  full  month  to  the 
whole  band  of  horsemen  in  order  to  make  them  the 
more  hearty  in  defence  of  Siena.  "  And  when  they 
reckoned  it  up,  one  hundred  and  eighteen  thousand 
florins  were  needed,  which,  though  sought  for,  were 
not  to  be  found.  And  on  this,  Salimbene  Salimbeni, 
speaking,  said :  '  Honorable  Councillors,  I  deal  in  ready 
money,  and  I  will  provide  it  to  the  said  amount.'  And 
this  offer  being  accepted  by  the  Twenty-four,  Salim- 
bene went  to  his  own  house  and  brought  the  pioney 
on  a  little  cart  to  the  Piazza  Tolomei,  and  delivered  it 

brandini's  simpler  narrative,  but  is  unhistoric  in  spirit  and  awkward  in 
style.     An  unsatisfactory  translation  of  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  Chro- 
niques  Siennoises,  par  le  Due  de  Dino,  Paris,  1846,  8vo. 
*  This  was  he  with  whom,  as  Oderisi  da  Gubbio  tells  Dante, 

"  all  Tuscany  resounded, 
And  now  he  scarce  is  lisped  of  in  Siena, 
Where  he  was  lord,  what  time  was  overthrown 
The  Florentine  delirium,  that  superb 
Was  at  that  day,  as  now  'tis  prostitute." 

Purgatory,  xi.  110-114.     (Longfellow's  Translation.) 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  BATTLE.  u^ 

to  the  said  Twenty-four."  Then  the  money  was  given 
to  Count  Giordano  and  his  companions,  and  they  left 
the  council,  and  went  to  give  to  each  man  of  the  eight 
hundred  who  made  up  the  troop  of  mercenaries  his 
double  pay  for  a  month.  "  And  these,  having  it,  made 
goo(^  cheer  with  dances  and  songs,  according  to  the 
custom  of  their  country." 

All  the  city  being  in  commotion,  the  people  crowded 
the  streets  and  gathered  around  the  Church  of  St.  Chris- 
topher. There  was  no  dismay,  but  on  every  side  the 
hurry  of  preparation  for  the  coming  battle.  The  Coun- 
cil chose  a  syndic,  giving  him  full  .powers  to  govern  the 
city  in  all  things.  His  name  was  Bonaguida  Lucari,  a 
man  of  pure  and  good  life  and  of  the  best  condition. 
Meanwhile  the  Bishop  had  summoned  all  the  clergy — 
priests,  canons,  and  friars — to  the  Duomo,  and  he  ex- 
horted them  "  to  pray  to  God  and  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
the  Saints  for  the  people  and  the  city,  that  they  would 
defend  them  against  the  impious  lusts  of  the  Floren- 
tines ;"  and  then,  all  barefoot,  they  made  a  devout  and 
solemn  procession  through  the  cathedral. 

The  Council  was  no  sooner  ended  than  the  syndic 
Bonaguida,  "  inspired  by  God  and  by  the  Virgin  Mary," 
cried  with  a  loud  voice  to  the  people  before  the  church 
in  the  Piazza  Tolomei,  and  said,  " '  Though  we  be  in- 
trusted to  King  Manfred,  yet  now  meseems  we  should 
give  ourselves,  in  property  and  person,  the  city  and  the 
territory,  with  all  our  dominion,  to  the  Virgin  Mary;  and 

do  ye  all  follow  me  with  pure  faith  and  good-will.'  Here- 

8 


f 

1 14     SIENA,  'AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

upon  Bonaguida  bared  his  head  and  his  feet,  stripped 
himself  to  his  shirt,  put  his  girdle  round  his  neck,  and, 
having  caused  the  keys  of  all  the  gates  of  Siena  to  be 
brought  to  him,  he  took  them,  and  led  the  way  for  the 
people,  who,  all  barefoot,  followed  him  devoutly,  with 
tears  and  lamentations,  up  to  the  Duomo;  and  e^nter- 
ing  it,  all  the  people  cried  aloud  Misericordia !  and 
the  Bishop,  with  the  priests,  came  to  meet  them ;  and 
Bonaguida  threw  himself  on  the  ground  at  the  feet  of 
the  Bishop,  and  the  people  all  went  on  their  knees.  Then 
the  Bishop  took  Bonaguida  by  the  hand,  and  lifted  him 
up  from  the  ground,  and  embraced  and  kissed  him ;  and 
in  like  wise  did  all  the  people,  one  to  another,  in  great 
charity  and  love,  and  all  forgot  their  wrongs.  And 
Bonaguida,  standing  before  the  picture  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  uttered  these  words :  *  Oh,  Mother  most  pitiful ! 
oh,  Counsel  and  Help  of  the  afflicted !  help  us.  I  give 
and  dedicate  to  thee  the  city  of  Siena,  with  all  its  in- 
habitants ;  the  territory,  and  all  that  belongeth  to  us. 
Lo,  I  consign  to  thee  the  keys.  Guard  thou  thy  city 
from  every  wicked  work ;  above  all,  from  the  tyranny 
of  the  Florentines.  Ah !  Mother  compassionate,  accept 
this  little  gift  of  our  good-will.  And,  notary,  do  thou 
take  note  of  this  donation,  that  it  is  forever,  so  long 
as  the  world  endures.'  And  so  it  was  done  and  re- 
corded."* 

*  All  public  resolves  and  acts  of  state  were  recorded  and  published  by 
a  public  notary.  When,  near  the  end  of  the  century,  the  facade  of  the 
Duomo  was  constructed,  a  picture  in  mosaic,  representing  this  scene, 
was  set  over  the  main  door.  In  the  centre  was  the  Virgin  enthroned, 


PROCESSION  THROUGH  THE  CITY.  nr 

The  next  morning  the  people  assembled  at  the  Du- 
omo  to  join  in  a  solemn  procession.  "  The  crucifix, 
carved  in  relief,  which  stands  above  the  altar  of  St. 
James,*  was  taken  down,  and  he  who  bore  it  was  the 
leader  of  the  procession ;  and  after  came  the  image  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  under  a  canopy,  and  then  the  Bish- 
op, barefoot,  and  Bonaguida,  with  head  and  feet  bare, 
and  his  girdle  round  his  neck;  and  behind  them  the 
clergy  and  the  people  barefoot,  reciting  psalms  and 
prayers;  and  thus  they  went  through  Siena.  And 
having  returned  to  the  Duomo,  kneeling  before  the 
high-altar,  they  prayed  God  that  he  would  deign  to 
hear  their  prayers,  though  they  were  sinners,  and  that 
he  would  regard  not  their  deserts,  but  for  pity's  sake 
would  have  compassion  on  them.  Then  the  Bishop 
took  the  keys  and  blessed  them  and  gave  them  back 

holding  the  Child.  On  the  right  hand  an  angel  presented  to  her  the 
kneeling  Bonaguida,  in  the  act  of  offering  to  her  the  keys  of  the  city ; 
on  the  left  stood  Siena,  in  the  form  of  a  crowned  woman,  uttering  the 
prayer  "  Respice,  Virgo,  Senam  quam  signas  amenam."  See  Tizio,  MSS. 
Historiar.  Sen.,  in  the  Biblioteca  pubblica  Comunale.  This  mosaic  was 
probably  destroyed  in  the  remodelling  of  the  fagade  in  the  fourteenth 
century.  The  lover  of  the  early  art  of  Siena  may  well  regret  its  loss. 

The  devout  at  Siena  are  still  given  to  the  worship  of  the  Virgin.  In 
a  chapel  attached  to  the  little  old  church  of  San  Pietro,  near  the  Porta 
Camellia,  is  a  modern  picture  of  the  Virgin  and  Child,  under  which  is 
the  following  inscription,  quite  in  the  spirit  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury,— 

"  Maria  Advocata 

Mediatrix  Optima 
Inter  Christum 
Et  Senam  Suam." 

*  This  crucifix  still  exists  in  the  Duomo,  at  the  altar  in  the  left  tran- 
sept. 


1 1 6      SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

to  Bonaguida,  and  he  returned  with  them  to  St.  Chris- 
topher's." 

And  in  memory  of  this  was  painted,  at  the  high-altar, 
a  paper  in  the  hand  of  the  Child  in  the  arms  of  his 
Mother,  to  signify  the  donation  of  Siena;  and  after- 
wards this  Madonna  was  removed,  and  placed  at  the 
altar  of  St.  Boniface,  and  was  called  Our  Lady  of  Grace. 

The  rest  of  the  day,  Thursday,  was  spent  in  warlike 
preparations.  On  the  next  morning,  Friday,  Septem- 
ber 3,  at  daybreak,  a  crier  was  sent  through  each  quar- 
ter of  the  city,  crying,  "  Let  every  man  arm  himself  in 
the  name  of  God  and  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  report 
himself  to  his  Gonfalonier."  *  Every  man  was  ready, 
and  early  in  the  morning  the  Sienese  army,  in  good 
array,  marched  out  of  the  gate  of  Santo  Viene,  now  del 
Pispini,  the  mercenaries  under  command  of  Conte 
Giordano,  and  the  soldiers  of  Siena  under  that  of  Conte 
Aldobrandino  di  Santafiore.  Near  the  front  went  the 
carroccio  of  Siena,  "  with  a  white  banner,  which  indeed 
gave,  comfort,  for  it  seemed  the  mantle  of  the  Virgin 
Mary."  Following  their  special  banners  came  the  men- 
at-arms  of  each  of  the  three  wards  of  the  city,  "  and 
priests  and  friars  went  with  them,  encouraging  them ; 
and  some  even  of  the  clerks  had  arms  for  fighting." 
The  Sienese  advanced  without  opposition  from  the 
Florentines,  passing  first  the  stream  of  the  Bozzone, 
and  then  that  of  the  Arbia,  and  finally  encamped  at 

*  There  were  three  Gonfaloniers,  or  Standard-bearers,  one  for  each 
of  the  Terzf,  or  wards  of  the  city. 


THE  DAY  AND  NIGHT  BEFORE  THE  BATTLE. 


117 


the  foot  of  Monteropoli,  in  face  of  the  camp  of  the 
Guelfs. 

That  day  after  the  army  had  gone  out,  the  women 
who  were  left  behind,  and  the  old  men  who  could  not 
bear  arms,  kept  fast,  and  went  in  solemn  procession, 
with  the  Bishop  and  clergy  at  their  head,  to  visit  all 
the  holy  shrines,  "  praying  God  and  the  Virgin  Mary 
for  the  safety  of  the  Sienese  people,  and  for  their  lib- 
erty." And  having  come  back  to  the  Duomo,  "the 
Bishop,  kneeling  before  the  altar,  made  a  devout  prayer, 
and  then  gave  the  people  his  blessing,  and  part  went 
to  their  houses  to  rest  and  part  remained  to  pray."  * 

As  soon  as  the  Sienese  army  had  taken  up  its  posi- 
tion, final  preparations  were  made  for  battle,  and  troops 
were  told  off  to  harass  and  disturb  the  enemy  through 
the  night.  That  night  a  mantling  white  mist  was  seen 
to  hang  over  the  Sienese  camp,  at  which  the  people 
marvelled,  and  some  said,  "  it  seemed  as  it  were  the 
mantle  of  our  Mother,  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  watches 
over  and  defends  the  people  of  Siena."  t 

Early  on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  the  4th  Septem- 
ber, the  Sienese  prepared  for  the  attack.  " '  It  is  near 
day,'  said  their  captain-general, '  let  all  the  troops  com- 
fort themselves  with  eating  and  drinking,  and  then,  in 

*  Aldobrandini,  p.  1 1  ;  Ventura,  p.  48. 

t  Aldobrandini,  p.  18;  Ventura,  p.  56.  From  an  early  time  the  Sie-. 
nese  painters  were  accustomed  to  represent  the  Virgin  with  a  white 
mantle ;  varying  in  this  from  the  common  traditional  representation 
of  her  in  a  red  tunic,  with  a  blue  robe  or  mantle.  Many  instances  of 
this  peculiar  dress  may  be  seen  in  the  pictures  in  the  Gallery  of  Fine 
Arts  at  Siena. 


H8     SIENA,  AND  OUR   LADY  OF   THE  ASSUMPTION. 

the  name  of  God  and  his  mother  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
the  glorious  Messer  St.  George,  the  noble  cavalier,  we 
will  forward  and  begin  the  victory.' "  And  thereupon 
were  served  most  excellent  roast  meats,  and  a  great 
quantity  of  other  provisions,  and  the  best  of  wines  and 
abundance  of  good  bread.  And  the  Germans  set  them- 
selves to  dancing  and  singing  a  song  in  their  tongue, 
which  says,  "  Soon  shall  we  see  what  hap  may  fall."  * 
And  this  they  did  while  the  rest  of  the  army  was  get- 
ting ready;  for  it  seemed  to  them  a  thousand  years 
while  they  waited  to  mount.f 

Orders  were  given  that  the  advance  should  be  made 
without  sound  of  trumpet,  but  with  a  shout  at  the  mo- 
ment of  joining  battle.  No  one  was  to  break  ranks  for 

*  One  is  reminded  of  the  German  mercenaries  in  the  expedition  on 
Branksome  Hall, — 

"  Behind  the  English  bill  and  bow, 
The  mercenaries  firm  and  slow, 

Moved  on  to  fight  in  dark  array, 
By  Conrad  led  of  Wolfenstein, 
Who  brought  the  band  from  distant  Rhine, 

And  sold  their  blood  fqr  foreign  pay. 
And  as  they  marched,  in  rugged  tongue 
Songs  of  Teutonic  feuds  they  sung." 

Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,  canto  iv.  st.  xviii. 

t  Ventura,  p.  61.  It  is  difficult  to  render  the  simplicity  of  the  words 
of  the  chronicler :  "  E  in  questo  vennero  buonissime  vivande  arrostite 
di  diverse  carni,  e  grande  quantita  di  confetti,  e  di  perfetti  e  solenni 
vini  e  bene  vantaggiati,  e  grande  abondanza  di  pane  pur  del  piu  bello. 
In  questo  mentre  che  le  cose  s'  apparecchiavano,  el  conte  d'  Arasi,  e 
misser  Gualtieri  con  altri  tedeschi  presono  uno  bello  ballo  cantando 
canzone  in  tedesco,  che  a  nostra  lingua  dicea :  Tosto  vedremo  cib  che  si 
ritrova.  E  questo  fero  per  poco  ispazio,  acciocche  la  gente  che  dormiva 
si  svegliasse  e  si  mettesse  in  ponto,  e  predesse  conforto  di  mangiare  e 
bere,  che  a  loro  pareva  mille  anni  di  montare  a  cavallo." 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  BATTLE.  II9 

the  sake  of  taking  prisoners  or  booty ;  no  quarter  was 
to  be  given  to  the  enemy,  but  the  troops  were  to  "far 
carne"  to  kill.  At  the  moment  of  advance  one  of  the 
German  knights,  the  leader  of  a  band  of  two  hundred 
horse — Master  Harry  of  Astimberg — coming  to  the 
Captain  of  the  army,  said,  "  The  holy  empire  has  given 
the  privilege  to  our  House  of  Astimberg  to  strike  the 
first  blow  in  every  battle ;  be  pleased  to  allow  it  now." 
His  suit  was  granted,  "  and  thereupon  Messer  Walter, 
nephew  of  the  aforesaid  Master  Harry,  leaped  from  his 
horse,  and  kneeling,  said  to  his  uncle, '  He  who  receiv- 
eth  grace  can  best  grant  it ;  you  have  the  right  to  de- 
liver the  first  blow,  and  now  grant  to  me  that  in  your 
stead  I  may  be  the  first  to  lower  lance.'  Then  Master 
Harry  yielded  it  to  him,  and  kissed  him  and  blessed 
him;  and  Messer  Walter  quickly  mounted  his  horse, 
and  gave  thanks  to  his  uncle  for  so  great  an  honor, 
and  put  his  helm  on  his  head  and  set  forward."  * 

The  battle,  once  joined,  soon  became  a  desperate 
fight.  What  the  Sienese  lacked  in  numbers  they  made 
up  in  fury ;  and  they  were  aided — so,  at  least,  say  the 
Florentine  chroniclers — by  treachery  in  the  ranks  of 
their  enemies.  "  Messer  Bocca  degli  Abati,  the  trai- 
tor," says  Malespini  in  his  chronicle,  "smote  and  cut 
off  the  hand  of  Messer  Jacopo  de'  Pazzi  of  Florence, 
who  bore  the  standard  of  the  cavalry  of  the  commune 
of  Florence.  And  the  cavaliers  and  the  people,  see- 

*  Aldobrandini,  p.  19.    Ventura  tells  the  story  with  many  rhetorical 
additions  and  flourishes. 


12Q    SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

ing  the  standard  down  and  the  treachery,  were  put  to 
rout."  * 

But  spite  of  treachery,  spite  of  panic,  the  Florentines 
fought  bravely;  and,  as  their  fortune  grew  desperate, 
they  rallied  round  their  carroccio,  and  defended  it  with 
passionate  valor.  With  tears  they  kissed  it,  taking  thus 
a  last  farewell  of  all  that  was  dear  to  them,  and  then 
turned  to  die,  till  a  heap  of  the  dead  surrounded  it  like 
a  wall.  But  all  their  efforts  were  vain.  The  Ghibel- 
lines  gained  possession  of  the  carroccio,  pulled  down 
the  banner  of  Florence,  and  dragged  it  in  the  blood 
and  dust,  to  revenge  the  insult  to  the  banner  of  King 
Manfred. 

The  victory  was  complete.  Before  nightfall  the  great- 
er part  of  the  Florentine  host  were  dead  or  captive,  and 
the  rest  were  flying  in  dismay. 

Meanwhile  Siena  was  waiting  and  watching  in  anx- 
ious suspense  for  the  issue  of  the  day  on  which  her  fate 
depended.  In  the  morning  one  Cerreto  Ceccolini  had 
gone,  taking  his  drum  with  him,  to  the  top  of  the  tow- 
er of  the  Mariscotti,!  whence  he  could  see  the  battle- 

*  Malespini,  Istoria  di  Fiorenza,  c.  171 ;  G.  Villani,  Crontca,  vi.  78. 
It  was  this  Bocca  degli  Abati  whom  Dante  found  freezing  in  the  ice 
in  which  traitors  were  set : 

"  Whether  'twere  will,  or  destiny,  or  chance, 

I  know  not ;  but,  in  walking  'mong  the  heads, 
I  struck  my  foot  hard  in  the  face  of  one. 
Weeping,  he  growled,  '  Why  dost  thou  trample  me  ? 
Unless  thou  comest  to  increase  the  vengeance 
Of  Montaperti,  why  dost  thou  molest  me  ?'  " 

Inferno,  xxxii.  76-81.     (Longfellow's  Translation.) 
t  The  tower  of  the  Mariscotti  still  exists,  though  diminished  in  height, 


THE  BATTLE  WATCHED  FROM  SIENA.  I2i 

field.  When  he  saw  the  Sienese  host  begin  to  move 
he  beat  his  drum,  and  cried  aloud  to  the  people  who 
gathered  round  the  foot  of  the  tower,  telling  them  of 
the  advance,  and  bidding  them  pray  God  for  victory. 
When  the  fight  became  thick  he  beat  his  drum  again, 
and  cried,  "  Now  they  are  at  work ;  pray  God  for  vic- 
tory." And  again,  after  a  while,  the  drummer  shouted, 
"  Pray  God  for  ours,  for  they  seem  to  give  way  some 
little.  Now  I  see  it  is  the  enemy  who  waver."  And 
so  from  hour  to  hour  through  the  day  the  drummer 
gave  news  to  the  people,  till,  at  length,  towards  even- 
ing, beating  his  drum  gayly,  he  cried  that  the  Floren- 
tine banners  were  on  the  ground,  and  the  enemy  in 
flight.*  That  night  there  was  rejoicing  in  Siena. 

Wearied  with  slaughter  and  the  pursuit  of  the  routed 
Guelfs,  the  Sienese  army  took  up  their  quarters  on 
the  site  of  their  encampment  of  the  previous  night. 

So  ended — 

"  Lo  strazio  e  '1  grande  scempio 
Che  fece  1'  Arbia  colorata  in  rossa ;" 

and  neither  Florence  nor  Siena  has  ever  forgotten  "  la 
vendetta  di  Montaperti."f 

attached  to  the  Palazzo  Saracini.  From  its  summit  even  now  the 
heights  of  Monteropoli  and  Montaperti  can  be  seen. 

*  Aldobrandini,  pp.  19-23;  Ventura,  pp.  65-73. 

t  Inferno,  x.  85,  86 ;  and  xxxii.  80.  It  is  impossible  to  reconcile  the 
conflicting  accounts  of  the  numbers  of  the  slain  and  captured  Guelfs. 
The  author  of  a  manuscript  account  of  the  battle,  which  exists  in  the 
Laurentian  library,  who  speaks  as  one  present  at  it,  says :  "  Fuitque 
numerus  occisorum,  sicut  existimari  potui  qui  adstabam,  mille  ducen- 
torum  virorum ;  sed  undecim  milium  fuit  numerus  captivorum,  ex  qui- 
bus  ultra  octo  milia  fame  et  inedia  in  carcere  perierunt.  In  hoc  con- 


122     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

On  Sunday  morning,  at  dawn,  the  Sienese  troops  set 
out  on  their  triumphal  return  to  the  city,  and  the  peo- 
ple who  had  remained  at  home  went  to  meet  them  on 
the  way.  The  army,  impeded  by  the  amount  of  booty 
and  the  number  of  prisoners,  moved  slowly,  but  reached 
the  city  before  noon,  and  went  at  once  to  the  Duomo, 
to  offer  thanks  to  God  and  to  the  glorious  Virgin  Mary 
for  the  great  victory.  Thence  they  descended  to  St. 
Christopher's  Church,  where  they  gave  over  to  the 
Twenty -four  all  that  belonged  to  the  commune  — 
baggage,  standards,  pavilions,  tents,  banners,  and  what- 
ever of  the  sort  they  had  taken  from  the  Floren- 
tines.* 

For  three  days  there  were  continual  rejoicings,  with 
frequent  religious  processions  and  thanksgiving.  The 
wounded  were  cared  for  at  the  public  expense,  and  the 
dead  were  honorably  buried.  To  two  of  them,  Andrea 
Beccarini  and  Giovanni  Ugurgieri,  captains  of  com- 
panies and  of  noble  family,  was  conceded  the  honor 
of  burial  in  the  cathedral,  wherein,  up  to  that  time, 
no  one  had  been  entombed.  The  inscribed  stones 
which  marked  their  graves,  worn  by  the  feet  of  many 
generations,  have  been  replaced  in  recent  times  by  oth- 
ers, on  which  the  ancient  inscriptions  are  re-engraved. 


flictu  sunt  capta  viginti  milia  asinorum  victualia  simul  et  bladum  por- 
tantium."  Plut.  xxi.  Sin.,  cod.  5,  S.  Croce.  Paoli,  Battaglia  de  Mon- 
tapertt,  p.  60.  From  the  effect  produced  at  Florence  by  the  defeat, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  large  part  of  her  best  men-at-arms  were 
lost  to  her. 
*  Ventura,  p.  81. 


MEMORIALS  IN  THE  DUOMO. 

Near  the  main  door  of  entrance  one  may  read  on  a 
marble  slab, 

"  D.  O.  M.  Andreas  ex  nobili  Beccarinorum  familia,  quia  in  Montis 
Aperti  certamine  strenue  cecidit  hie  situs  est  primus." 

And  a  little  to  the  right, 

"Johannes  Ugurgerius  decreto  publico  hie  situs  est.  Decess.  Montis 
Aperti  clade  anno  salutis  MCCLX." 

The  simplicity  of  the  record  is  striking,  but  the  memo- 
rial is  sufficient ;  for  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  six 
centuries,  Siena  is  still  proud  of  her  greatest  victory, 
and  renews  its  memory  each  year  in  the  picturesque 
games  with  which  she  celebrates  the  Festival  of  the 
Madonna  of  August 

Ventura  says  that  the  two  masts  of  the  Sienese 
carroccio  were  set  up  in  the  Duomo,  as  memorials  of 
the  battle,  against  two  piers  of  the  nave,  fronting  the 
choir.  Two  tall  masts  to-day  stand  bound  to  these 
piers,  but  popular  tradition  asserts  that  they  are  those 
that  belonged  to  the  captured  carroccio  of  the  Floren- 
tines. Both  chronicler  and  tradition  may  be  right; 
one  mast  may  have  borne  the  humbled  lilies  of  Flor- 
ence ;  the  other  the  triumphant  white  ensign  of  Siena. 

The  episode  of  the  battle  of  Montaperti  begins  and 
ends  at  the  Duomo.  The  civic  history  interweaves 
itself  with  that  of  the  Cathedral. 


1 1 1. — Continued. 
SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF    THE  ASSUMPTION. 

II.  THE  STORY  OF  THE  DUOMO  AFTER   I26o. 

SIENA  had  now  little  to  fear  from  her  enemies.  She 
had  broken  the  strength  of  her  most  dangerous  rival, 
and  had  re-established  the  influence  of  her  own  party. 
The  Ghibellines  throughout  Italy  had  reason  to  exult 
in  her  triumph.  The  Sienese  were  elated  with  a  new 
sense  of  power.  They  were  conscious  that  their  vic- 
tory not  only  made  their  city  conspicuous,  but  had 
given  her  a  political  importance  such  as  she  had  never 
before  possessed.  It  was  for  them  to  make  her  as 
beautiful  as  she  was  glorious,  and  they  turned  with 
fresh  ardor  of  piety  to  the  completion  and  adornment 
of  the  Duomo,  a  work  to  which  they  were  now  pledged 
in  an  especial  manner.  In  the  straits  of  peril  they  had 
given  themselves  and  their  possessions  to  the  Virgin, 
and  they  acknowledged  with  devout  thankfulness  the 
signal  protection  and  assistance  with  which  she  had 
manifested  her  favor.  Every  emotion  of  pious  gratitude 
combined  with  every  sentiment  of  patriotic  pride  to 
stimulate  them  to  make  her  church  a  worthy  expres- 
sion of  their  devotion  to  their  heavenly  intercessor. 


IRREGULARITIES  IN  CONSTRUCTION. 

Immediately  after  the  victory  the  old  enactment  was 
revived,  that  on  the  vigil  of  the  Assumption  of  Our 
Lady  every  adult  citizen  of  Siena  should  offer  in  the 
cathedral  a  pound  of  refined  wax  —  a  custom,  says 
Malavolti,  writing  more  than  three  centuries  later, 
"which  has  been  always  observed  and  is  still  main- 
tained." * 

The  design  upon  which  the  cathedral  was  building 
did  not  embrace  the  present  prolonged  choir  or  the  ex- 
isting facade.  Both  of  these  were  additions  of  a  later 
period;  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  building,  as 
originally  designed,  was  now  approaching  its  comple- 
tion, for  in  1262  there  was  a  large  expenditure  for  lead 
to  finish  the  work  on  the  roof,t  and  two  years  later 
the  final  touch  wras  given  to  the  cupola  at  the  inter- 
section of  nave  and  transept4 

This  cupola,  though  of  no  unusual  size  and  of  little 
grace  of  design,  presents  such  marked  irregularity  in 
the  lines  and  dimensions  of  its  several  sides  as  to  be 
one  of  those  puzzles  of  construction  that  many  Italian 
buildings  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  offer 
to  the  architect,  and  in  which  the  Duomo  at  Siena 
abounds. §  It  is  plain  that  the  builders  of  that  time 
worked  upon  a  much  looser  plan,  paid  less  attention 
to  exactness  of  line  and  measure,  and  were  less  re- 
gardful of  symmetry  in  corresponding  parts  than  the . 

*  Htstoria,  parte  ii.  p.  20  b.       t  Archimo  del  Duomo,  Perg.  254,  270. 

J  Milanesi,  Documentt,  i.  145. 

§  See  Burckhardt,  Der  Cicerone,  "  Architektur,"  pp.  101, 131. 


I26     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

builders  of  a  later  period.  And  it  is  at  least  an  open 
question  whether  the  irregularities  which  their  works 
display,  when  not  carried  so  far  as  to  attract  attention 
to  the  want  of  conformity,  be  not  a  source  of  pleasure 
to  the  eye  and  of  intended  perspective  effects  unat- 
'tained  in  more  exact  and  symmetrical  construction.* 

It  agrees  with  the  view  that  the  Duomo  was  at 
this  time  near  completion,  according  to  the  plan  then 
followed,  to  find  that  the  next  existing  record  relates 
to  an  accessory  work,  of  no  structural  importance,  but 
essential  for  the  due  performance  of  service  within 
the  cathedral  walls — namely,  the  construction  of  a  pul- 
pit worthy  of  the  building  in  which  it  was  to  stand. 
In  1260  Niccola  Pisano  had  designed  and  sculptured 
the  famous  pulpit  which,  originally  intended  for  the 
Duomo  at  Pisa,  now  stands,  altered  in  its  proportions, 
in  the  neighboring  baptistery.  It  was  a  w;ork  such  as 
Italy  had  not  seen  before — the  sign  of  a  new  life  in 
art ;  the  proof  of  a  new  life  in  society.  It  was  not  the 
tentative  effort  of  uncertain  emotion  and  unskilled 
workmanship,  but  the  deliberate  product  of  a  self-con- 

*  At  Siena  there  is  not  merely  a  slight  difference  in  the  size  of  cor- 
respondent piers,  but  in  many  of  them  the  centres,  as  well  as  the  cir- 
cumscribing lines  of  the  bases  and  capitals,  are  out  of  line  one  with 
another,  so  that  there  is  a  curiously  delicate  difference  in  the  curves 
and  angles  of  the  vaulting  ribs ;  but  there  are  also  more  conspicuous 
irregularities  which  can  hardly  be  defended  as  within  the  limits  of 
good  effect,  and  which  seem  the  result  of  careless  building — such,  for 
example,  as  the  break  in  the  line  of  the  cornice  over  the  arches  of  the 
nave  at  the  point  where  the  two  last  arches  towards  the  facade  con- 
nect with  the  others.  See  Appendix  II.  "Irregularities  of  Construc- 
tion in  Italian  Buildings  of  the  Middle  Ages." 


NICCOLA  PISANO. 

fident  and  well-trained  genius — a  genius,  indeed,  not 
yet  completely  master  of  the  principles,  or  even  the 
methods,  of  sculpture,  but  far  advanced  on  the  way 
to  their  discovery  and  application,  and  already  capa- 
ble of  giving  noble  expression  to  its  own  conception. 
The  feeling  for  art — especially  for  art  at  once  deco- 
rative in  character  and  religious  in  motive,  which  was 
one  of  the  most  marked  traits  of  the  revival  of  the  na- 
tional spirit  in  Italy — led  to  the  rapid  spread  of  Nic- 
cola's  fame. 

The  artist  in  sympathy  with  his  generation  is  the 
soul  and  hand  by  which  its  imperfect  ideals  are 
shaped  for  it  into  definite  forms.  The  appreciation 
of  his  contemporaries  is  his  highest  and  most  in- 
spiring stimulant.  And  this  appreciation  is  the  es- 
sential condition  for  the  production  of  works  that,  ris- 
ing above  the  level  of  personal  fancy  and  the  demand 
of  personal  caprice,  succeed  in  passing  the  narrow  lim- 
its of  individual  experience,  and  give  new  and  just  ex- 
pression to  emotions,  sentiments,  and  conceptions  com- 
mon to  a  race.  It  was  the  characteristic  of  this  pe- 
riod, in  which  the  flush  of  a  fresh  consciousness  of 
national  existence  was  felt  throughout  Italy,  that  archi- 
tecture and  sculpture  afforded  expression  to  the  deep- 
est sentiments,  patriotic  or  religious  as  they  might  be, 
of  the  nation,  and  answered  with  completest  recogni- 
tion to  that  intense  demand  for  utterance  which  such 
sentiments  create  in  the  breasts  of  an  ardent,  poetic, 
and  emotional  people  in  the  early  stages  of  national 


I28       SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

life.  The  place  of  these  arts  was  to  be  taken  in  later 
generations  by  poetry  and  by  painting;  but  at  this  time 
they  were  the  best  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  people. 

It  was  under  conditions  such  as  these  that  Niccola's 
powers  had  developed.  His  works,  the  best  in  their 
kind,  were  competed  for  by  distant  as  well  as  by  neigh- 
boring cities.  Siena,  induced  by  his  fame,  and  eager 
to  have  a  pulpit  worthy  of  her  cathedral — one  that 
should  at  least  rival  the  pulpit  of  Pisa — applied  to  Nic- 
cola  to  construct  and  carve  one  for  her.  He  under- 
took the  commission,  and  the  contract  between  Fra 
Melano,  "  operarius  operis  sancte  Marie  majoris  eccle- 
sie  Senensis,"  and  "magister  Nicolus  lapidum  de  pa- 
roccia  ecclesie  sancti  Blasii  de  ponte  de  Pisis,"  still 
exists  in  the  Sienese  archives.  It  is  an  interesting 
document  in  its  illustration  of  the  practical  conditions 
under  which  the  greatest  artist  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury— the  Giotto  of  sculpture — led  his  life  and  did  his 
work.  The  instrument  is  dated  October  5,  1266.* 

Niccola  must  have  previously  furnished  a  design 
which  had  been  accepted,  for  he  binds  himself  to  de- 
liver, within  a  month,  at  Pisa,  to  Fra  Melano  or  his 
agent,  eleven  columns  with  their  capitals,  seven  pieces 
of  marble  for  the  arches,  and  eight  for  the  spaces  be- 
tween them,  seven  other  slabs,  and  sixteen  small  col- 
umns, besides  such  other  pieces  as  were  necessary  for 

*  It  is  printed  by  Milanesi,  Documenti,  i.  145.  An  abstract  of  it,  not 
altogether  accurate,  may  be  found  in  Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle,  History 
of  Painting  in  Italy,  i.  131 — a  book  important  as  a  repertory  of  infor- 
mation, but  deficient  in  higher  respects. 


CONTRACT  FOR    THE  PULPIT,  I2g 

the  construction  of  the  pulpit,  excepting  what  were  re- 
quired for  the  foundation  and  the  stairs,  and  excepting 
also  the  lions  and  the  "pedestals"  of  the  eleven  col- 
umns first  mentioned.  All  these  were  to  be  of  Car- 
rara marble,  and  the  price  agreed  upon  for  them  was 
sixty-five  lire  in  Pisan  money,  "libras  denar.  pisanor."* 
Niccola  further  bound  himself  to  go  to  Siena  in  the 
following  March,  and  there  to  reside  until  the  pulpit 
should  be  finished ;  and  to  undertake  during  this  time 
no  other  work  without  express  permission  from  Fra 
Melano  or  his  successor  as  operarius.  He  was,  how- 
ever, to  be  at  liberty  to  spend  a  fortnight  at  Pisa  four 
times  a  year,  in  the  interest  of  the  work  on  the  ca- 
thedral and  baptistery  there — "ad  consiliandum  ipsa 
opera,  et  etiam  pro  suis  ipsius  magistri  Niccholi  factis 
propriis."  He  was  further  to  bring  with  him  from 
Pisa  two  of  his  scholars,  Arnolfo  and  Lapo,  with  leave 
to  add  a  third  to  their  number,  to  assist  him  on  the 
work,  and  to  remain  with  him  at  Siena  till  its  comple- 
tion, or  at  least  for  so  long  as  the  term  of  apprentice- 
ship for  which  they  were  bound  to  him  might  extend. 
He  was  also  to  be  at  liberty  to  bring  with  him  his  son 
Giovanni.  His  own  salary  was  to  be  eight  soldi  a  day ; 
but  it  was  to  be  paid — and  this  provision  is  worth  not- 

*  Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle  make  the  mistake  of  saying  that  he  agreed 
to  deliver  these  marbles  at  Siena,  and  that  "  he  was  also  to  furnish  the 
lions  or  pediments"  \_sic\,  adding, by  way  of  explanation,  "which  prob- 
ably were  to  be  found  ready  made  at  Pisa."  In  view  of  the  purely 
exceptional  genius  displayed  in  the  design  and  sculpture  of  the  lions 
of  the  Sienese  pulpit,  this  supposition  is  curiously  absurd. 

9 


1T>0     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

ing — only  for  the  days  on  which  he  should  be  actually 
at  work  or  directing  work, "  pro  singulo  die  quo  in  ipso 
opere  laborabit  et  faciet  laborari."  His  scholars  were 
each  to  be  paid  six  soldi  a  day ;  and  his  son,  if  Nic- 
cola  chose  to  bring  him,  should  be  paid,  or  his  father 
should  be  paid  for  him,  four  soldi  a  day.  Niccola  and 
his  scholars  were  further  to  be  free  from  every  tax  or 
civic  claim,  "omnibus  servitiis  realibus  et  personalibus," 
during  their  stay  at  Siena,  and  were  to  be  provided 
with  board  and  lodging,  "  hospitium  et  lectos."  The 
parties  being  bound  under  heavy  penalties  to  all  these 
agreements,  the  contract  was  signed  and  duly  wit- 
nessed in  the  Baptistery  at  Pisa. 

The  work,  thus  undertaken,  was  rapidly  accom- 
plished. On  the  6th  of  November,  1268,  Niccola  gave 
to  Fra  Melano  a  final  receipt  for  the  sum  due  to  him, 
his  son,  and  his  scholars  on  account  of  wages,  and  a 
discharge  from  all  obligations  and  compacts.  Two 
years  was  certainly  a  brief  time  for  the  construction 
and  sculpture  of  a  work  so  elaborate  in  design,  so 
careful  in  execution,  as  this  pulpit.  Of  all  the  works 
of  Niccola,  none  affords  a  fuller  expression  of  his  gen- 
ius or  displays  more  maturity  of  power.  In  compari- 
son with  the  pulpit  at  Pisa,  it  shows  a  more  advanced 
study  of  nature  and  living  forms,  and  a  greater  facility 
of  composition.  The  simplicity  of  composition  visible 
in  the  bass-reliefs  of  the  earlier  work,  and  the  direct 
imitation  of  classic  models  in  the  pose  and  character 
of  certain  figures,  are  here  exchanged  for  richer  and 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PULPIT. 

more  complicate  designs,  in  which  the  tendency  tow- 
ards imitation  of  antique  art  is  overborne  by  the 
lively  dramatic  spirit  of  the  artist,  and  by  the  free- 
dom gained  from  confidence  in  his  own  powers.*  His 
later  work  shows  the  hand  of  one  conscious  of  being 
a  master. 

The  body  of  the  pulpit  is  octagonal  in  form,  one  side 
being  left  open  for  entrance ;  the  others  are  filled  with 
bass-reliefs,  separated  from  each  other  at  the  angles  by 
admirable  figures  of  virtues  and  angels.  The  bass- 
reliefs  represent  in  order  the  Nativity,  the  Adoration  of 
the  Magi,  the  Presentation  in  the  Temple,  the  Flight 
into  Egypt,  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents,  the  Cruci- 
fixion, and  the  Last  Judgment. t 

In  purity  of  style,  the  best  of  these  sculptures  are 
those  in  which  the  composition  is  most  simple  and 
least  crowded,  as  the  Nativity  and  the  Adoration; 
but  as  a  master  of  dramatic  effect,  Niccola  exhibits 
his  highest  power  in  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents, 
in  which  the  violent  action  and  passionate  expression 
of  single  figures  are  rendered  with  a  force  and  truth  of 
characterization  that  leave  little  to  be  desired.  Sculpt- 
ure showed  itself  here  capable  once  more,  after  long 

*  Burckhardt,  Der  Cicerone,  p.  563,  seems  to  attribute  this  difference 
to  the  influence  upon  his  father  of  Giovanni  — "der  jiingere  Meister 
des  dramatischen  Ausdruckes  behalt  das  Feld."  But  Giovanni  was 
plainly  too  young  at  this  time  to  affect  his  father's  style.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  his  own  undoubted  works  of  a  subsequent  time  should  par- 
take of  the  spirit  of  the  later  rather  than  the  earlier  works  of  his  father. 

t  The  first,  second,  third,  sixth,  and  seventh  represent  the  same  sub- 
jects as  those  of  the  five  bass-reliefs  of  the  Pisan  pulpit. 


1T>2     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

disability,  of  displaying  correspondence  of  emotion  in 
face  and  gesture.  The  intricacy  and  fulness  of  this  and 
the  succeeding  compositions  reveal,  however,  the  ten- 
dency which  afterwards  prevailed  in  Italian  sculpture, 
and  reached  its  height  in  the  works  of  Ghiberti,  towards 
a  pictorial  method  essentially  in  contradiction  with  the 
principles  on  which  sculpture,  as  a  special  art,  properly 
rests.  Italian  sculpture  is,  from  its  beginning,  pictur- 
esque and  romantic  as  contrasted  with  the  antique  and 
classic  work.  It  exchanges  dignity,  tranquillity,  and 
simplicity  for  variety  and  liveliness.  Niccola  is  the 
first,  and  one  would  say  the  greatest,  of  the  long  line 
of  romantic  sculptors,  if  Michael  Angelo  were  not  the 
last. 

In  its  architectural  construction,  no  less  than  in  the 
character  of  its  bass-reliefs,  the  Sienese  pulpit  shows 
the  advance  that  Niccola  had  made  in  the  six  years 
since  the  Pisan  pulpit  was  completed.  The  body  of 
the  Sienese  pulpit  rests  upon  arches,  in  whose  span- 
drels are  set  figures  of  prophets  and  apostles.  The 
arches  spring  from  eight  columns,  which  stand  on  a 
wide  and  well-proportioned  platform ;  a  ninth,  central, 
column  supports  the  pulpit  floor,  and  rests  on  a  base 
adorned  with  seven  finely  designed  female  figures,  sym- 
bolizing the  seven  sciences,  and  indicating  by  their  po- 
sition the  subjection  of  human  knowledge  to  divine 
wisdom.  Of  the  other  columns,  four  have  simple 
bases,  two  rest  each  on  the  back  of  a  lion,  and  the 
remaining  two  each  on  the  back  of  a  lioness  giving 


COMPLETION  OF  THE  PULPIT. 

suck  to  her  cubs.  These  are  the  first  realistic  repre- 
sentations of  living  animals  which  the  mediaeval  revi- 
val of  art  had  produced;  and  in  vivacity  and  energy 
of  rendering,  in  the  thoroughly  artistic  treatment  of 
leonine  spirit  and  form,  they  have  never  been  sur- 
passed. Niccola  had  learned  and  knew  how  to  apply 
the  fundamental  principle  of  his  art — the  principle  of 
absolute  truth  to  nature  in  imaginative  no  less  than  in 
direct  representation.* 

The  six  centuries  that  have  passed  since  the  pulpit 
was  completed  have  mellowed  the  hue  of  its  marbles, 
and  thus  added  to  its  beauty  more  than  they  have 
taken  from  it  of  its  original  perfection.  And  if  it  be 
as  well  guarded  from  accident  and  wilful  injury  hence- 
forth as  it  has  been  hitherto,  it  may  last  for  twice  as 
many  centuries  yet,  one  of  the  most  precious  and  en- 
tire monuments  of  the  arts  of  the  early  revival  in 
Italy. 

After  the  completion  of  the  pulpit  some  years  seem 
to  have  passed  during  which  no  new  work  of  impor- 
tance was  undertaken.  A  record,  however,  of  the  year 
1271  relates  to  a  curious  ceremony  performed  within 
the  Duomo,  and  to  a  custom  that  illustrates  the  temper 

*  Burckhardt  speaks  of  these  lions  as  "  durch  antike  Anregung  ganz 
lebendig  gewordenen  Thierbilder."  But  they  show  less  of  antique  sug- 
gestion or  classical  influence  than  of  study  of  nature.  The  figures  of 
animals  on  the  sarcophagi  at  Pisa,  which  were  Niccola's  instructors, 
are  inferior  to  his  work  alike  as  natural  or  imaginative  representa- 
tions. Niccola's  technical  method  proves  his  close  study  of  classic 
remains,  but  his  later  artistic  style  is  that  of  an  independent  master, 
whose  strokes  are  the  expression  of  his  own  genius. 


134 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION, 


of  the  period.  At  this  time  the  Guelfs  had  gained  the 
upperhand  in  Siena,  and  were  retaliating  the  wrongs 
they  had  suffered  by  exiling  some  of  the  chief  Ghibel- 
lines,  tearing  down  their  houses,  and  reducing  their 
strongholds  in  the  neighboring  country.  Having  been 
successful  in  a  recent  expedition,  and  having  taken 
many  prisoners,  it  was  ordered,  by  a  vote  of  the  Gen- 
eral Council  on  the  $d  of  June,  1271,  that  five  pris- 
oners, enumerated  by  name,  should  be  released,  and 
"  offered  at  the  altar  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  for 
the  victory  vouchsafed  to  us  over  the  enemies  of  the 


commune."* 


The  release  of  certain  prisoners  on  the  Feast  of  the 
Assumption,  in  honor  of  the  Virgin,  to  whom  they 
were  presented  before  the  altar  in  the  Duomo,  was  a 
custom  long  practised  by  the  Sienese.  Instances  of  it 
occur  more  than  a  century  after  this  time.  The  mo- 
tive partook  more  of  superstition  than  of  humanity. 
The  sufferings  of  prisoners  during  the  Middle  Ages 
were  horrible.  The  common  treatment  of  them  was 


*  Consiglio  della  Campana,  xiv.  30.  The  Church  of  St.  Christopher, 
where  the  Council  held  its  sessions,  had  lately  been  greatly  injured  by 
the  fall  of  the  Palace  and  Tower  of  the  Salvani,  the  demolition  of  which 
had  been  ordered  by  the  commune  to  reduce  the  power  of  the  great 
Ghibelline  family,  of  which  Provenzano  Salvani,  famous  through  Dante's 
mention  of  him  (Purgatory,  xi.  121),  had  been  the  head.  He  had  fallen 
in  battle  in  1269,  and  the  commune  took  advantage  of  his  death  to  de- 
stroy his  house.  For  some  months  the  Piazza  of  San  Cristofano  was 
encumbered  with  the  ruins.  The  commune,  taking  the  fault  of  the  in- 
jury to  the  church  upon  itself,  appointed  Fra  Melano  to  conduct  the 
necessary  repairs,  according  to  the  estimate,  at  a  cost  of  not  more  than 
two  hundred  lire.  Consiglio  della  Campana,  xiv.  10,  21, 23,  87  ;  xv.  50. 


PIER  PETTIGNANO. 

a  mingling  of  cruelty  and  neglect.  Multitudes  pined 
and  starved  and  died  without  help.  Men  looked  on 
them  as  either  criminals  or  enemies  to  whom  no  pity 
was  due. 

There  was  one  man,  however,  at  this  time  in  Siena 
who  felt  compassion  for  those  languishing  in  captivity, 
and  was  known  to  the  city  as  their  friend.  When 
Dante  met  the  Sienese  gentlewoman  Sapia  in  Purga- 
tory, she  told  him  that  she  should  not  have  advanced 
so  far  towards  the  end  of  her  penance,  had  it  not  been 
that  Pier  Pettignano,  grieving  for  her  through  charity, 
had  remembered  her  in  his  holy  prayers.* 

Pier  Pettignano,  Peter  the  Combmaker,  was  known 
and  honored  in  Siena  for  his  good  deeds ;  he  grieved 
through  charity  for  all  who  were  in  suffering,  and  he 
visited  and  ministered  to  those  who  were  in  prison. 
The  record  remains  of  a  debate  in  the  Council  of  the 
Bell,  on  the  nth  of  August,  1282,  concerning  the 
release  of  prisoners  for  the  approaching  Feast  of  the 
Assumption.!  In  this  debate  it  was  urged  that  Pier 
Pettignano  be  empowered  to  select  from  the  crowd  of 
prisoners  those  who  should  be  delivered.  The  argu- 
ment by  which  the  proposal  was  supported  has  not 
been  preserved,  but  it  doubtless  rested  either  on  the 
probity  of  his  character,  which  gave  assurance  that  his 
selection  would  be  uninfluenced  by  personal  or  partisan . 
considerations,  or  on  his  acquaintance  with  the  prisons, 

*  Purgatory,  xiii.  128. 

t  See  App.  I.   "  Documents  relating  to  the  Duomo  of  Siena."  No.  V. 


!36     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

which  qualified  him  to  determine  who  among  the  pris- 
oners were  most  deserving  of  release.* 

During  these  years  there  was  constant  work  on  the 
cathedral.  Its  outside  was  still  incomplete.  Like  so 
many  of  the  finest  churches,  it  was  furnished  with  only 
a  plain  substantial  front  wall,  intended  to  serve  as  the 
backing  and  support  of  an  ornamental  facade.  The 
principle  of  Gothic  building,  that  every  part,  including 
what  might  seem  at  first  sight  as  mere  ornament, 
should  have  a  constructive  value,  was  never  adopted 
by  Italian  builders.  They  made  iron  bars  and  firm 
mortar  do  the  work  of  good  construction,  and  they  fast- 
ened on  their  ornament  in  what  forms  or  in  what  place 
they  chose,  with  little  regard  to  any  principle  but  that 
of  picturesque  effect.  Of  this  they  were  consummate 
masters,  and  the  style  of  architecture  which  is  conse- 
quently characteristic  of  Italy,  and  in  which  Italian 
architects  have  never  been  surpassed,  is  that  in  which 
incrusted  takes  the  place  of  constructive  ornament,  so 
that  there  is  a  double  building,  the  interior  hidden 
solid  frame,  and  the  exterior  visible  ornamental  shell. 
When  they  adopted  Gothic  forms,  the  builders  still 

*  Consiglio  delta  Campana,  xxvi.  II :  "Jacobus  Domini  Renaldi  Gilii 
consuluit  et  dixit  quod  Pierus  Pettinarius  hinc  ad  diem  beate  Marie 
Virginis  debeat  invenire  X  ex  pregionibus  Comunis  Senarum  pauperi- 
oribus  quos  invenire  poterit,  et  illi  quos  inveniret  relaxentur."  See  also 
Constglio  della  Campana,  xxxviii.  65,  28th  of  December,  1290. 

On  the  1 8th  of  December,  1290,  the  Council  voted  that  two  hundred 
lire  be  given  to  the  Minor  Friars  for  a  noble  tomb  to  be  erected  in 
their  church  over  the  grave  of  S.  Pier  Pettignano,  "  con  ciborio  ed  al- 
tare,"  with  pyx  and  altar. 


FACADE  OF   THE  DUO  MO.  l^ 

built  according  to  Roman  tradition,  and  the  outside  ap- 
pearance often  had  little  relation  but  that  of  contiguity 
with  the  inner  and  essential  framework.  This  was  the 
case  at  Siena. 

The  work  on  the  interior  of  the  Duomo  having 
reached  such  a  point  that  no  great  expenditure  upon 
it  was  required,  the  authorities  in  charge  determined 
about  1280  to  adorn  the  exterior  with  a  facade  which 
should  excel  all  other  similar  structures  in  Tuscany, 
and  should  testify  by  its  magnificence  to  the  steadily 
held  resolve  to  express  in  the  splendor  of  the  building 
the  piety  and  the  pride  of  the  people.  Giovanni  Pisano, 
who  had  now  acquired  reputation  almost  equal  to  that 
which  his  father  had  enjoyed  as  the  best  artist  in  Italy, 
was  employed  to  give  the  design  for  the  facade  and 
to  oversee  its  construction.  The  work  was  begun  in 
1284,  and  pushed  rapidly  forward.  Although  in  sub- 
sequent times  the  facade  has  suffered  many  changes, 
yet  the  general  features  of  the  original  design  are  prob- 
ably preserved  in  the  existing  front.  Lifted  on  a  wide 
platform,  to  which  eleven  broad  steps  lead  up  from  the 
level  of  the  surrounding  piazza,  the  white  marble  piers, 
gables,  and  pinnacles  rise  fronting  the  west,  dazzling 
the  eye  with  gilded  decorations,  crowded  with  statues 
and  busts  of  prophets,  apostles,  and  saints,  with  sym- 
bolic figures  of  animals  and  with  sculptured  ornament. 
On  the  peak  of  the  central  gable  stands  the  figure  of 
the  angel  of  the  Annunciation,  while  on  the  deep  blue 
stellated  field  of  the  gable  itself  is  set  a  gilded  statue 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

of  the  Madonna  of  the  Assumption  surrounded  by  a 
glory  of  rays  that  flash  in  the  bright  sunlight.  The 
effect  of  the  facade  is  brilliant  beyond  that  of  any 
other  church-front  in  Tuscany.  It  is  a  showy  pile  of 
ornamental  work,  by  an  artist  skilled  in  picturesque 
composition ;  but  it  has  not  the  grace  or  elegance 
characteristic  of  the  best  Italian  designs.  It  wants 
simplicity ;  its  general  proportions  fail  in  grandeur  and 
its  lines  in  dignity.  It  is  costly  and  elaborate,  it  is  full 
of  interest,  but  it  is  not  beautiful ;  it  indicates  the 
setting-in  of  the  decline  of  Italian  architecture.  The 
contemporary  facade  of  the  Duomo  at  Orvieto  is  su- 
perior to  it  in  unity  of  design,  in  the  interesting 
nature  of  its  various  parts,  and  in  the  splendid  color 
of  its  famous  mosaics.  There  may  be,  however,  some 
unfairness  in  judging  of  the  original  from  the  pres- 
ent front.  Many  changes  have  been  made  in  it  in 
different  centuries,  and  their  accumulated  effect  may 
have  been  to  injure  the  general  character  of  the  fa9ade. 
A  few  years  since,  the  old  stone  having  suffered  from 
long  exposure,  a  complete  renewal  wras  undertaken; 
the  old  forms  were  reproduced,  but  the  old  spirit  no 
longer  inspired  them ;  the  subtile  quality  of  ancient 
excellence  refused  to  be  copied.  The  facade  is  now  a 
brand-new  modern  reproduction,  and  suits  the  taste 
of  modern  Siena.  Of  the  work  of  the  great  days  of 
mediaeval  sculpture  scarcely  a  trace  remains  —  not  a 
fragment  that  belongs  to  the  school  of  the  Pisani — 
and  only  about  the  doors  some  few  venerable  mould- 


PENALTY  IMPOSED  ON  GIOVANNI  PISANO.      j 39 

ings  and  bits  of  bass-relief  bear  witness  to  the  merits 
of  the  stone-cutters  of  the  early  time. 

The  construction  of  so  elaborate  a  facade  was  not  a 
work  to  be  accomplished  in  a  short  time.  In  1290 
Giovanni  Pisano  was  still  employed  as  "  Caput  magis- 
trorum  operis  beate  Virginis  Marie."  At  this  time, 
however,  he  came  under  heavy  penalty  for  some  griev- 
ous misdeed ;  but,  on  the  ground  that  without  him  the 
work  on  the  Duomo  could  not  be  well  carried  on  ("sine 
quo  magistro  Johanne  bene  perfici  non  posset"),  it  was 
proposed  to  the  Council  of  the  Bell  to  ratify  the  deci- 
sion of  the  "  eighteen  governors  and  defenders  of  the 
commune,"  that  the  said  Giovanni  should  be  restored 
to  his  place  on  the  work  and  absolved  from  the  sentence 
pronounced  upon  him  without  payment  of  any  fine.* 

It  would  seem  that  the  popular  council  refused  to 
adopt  this  proposal,  for  in  October  of  the  same  year 
Giovanni  paid  to  the  treasury  of  the  commune  the 
sum  of  eight  hundred  lire,  "pro  una  condempnatione 
facta  de  eo  in  DC  libras  .  .  .  et  solvit  tertium  plus." 
So  heavy  a  fine  implies  the  commission  of  a  very  grave 
offence. 

Meanwhile  the  cost  of  building  the  facade  had  out- 

*  The  mode  in  which  it  was  proposed  that  this  absolution  should  be 
secured  is  exceedingly  curious :  "  provisum  sit  ...  quod  magister 
Johannes  ...  ad  laudem,  et  reverentiam,  et  honorem  gloriose  Marie 
semper  Virginis  offeratur  dicto  operi,  quia  dictus  magister  Johannes  sit 
valde  utilis  et  necessarius  dicte  opere ;  cum  condempnationibus  de  eo 
factis;  quod  facta  dicta  oblatione,  dicte  sue  condempnationes  cancel- 
lentur  de  libris  Comunis  Sen.  sine  aliqua  solutione  pecunie."  Milanesi, 
Documenti,  i.  162. 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

run  the  funds  in  the  hands  of  the  operarius,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  this  year,  1290,  he  petitioned  the  commune 
for  a  grant  of  money,  without  which  the  work  could  not 
be  carried  on — "et  laborerium  jam  inceptum  non  possit 
ad  laudem  effectui  produci."  His  prayer  was  laid  before 
the  council,  and  on  the  2oth  of  October  a  grant  of 
eight  hundred  lire,  just  the  amount  of  Giovanni's  fine, 
was  voted  by  a  majority  of  219  to  12.*  Eight  years 
afterwards  a  similar  petition  was  made  and  a  similar 
grant  voted  by  the  council. 

Numerous  documents  in  the  Archives  of  the  Duomo, 
relating  chiefly  to  the  purchase  of  woodland  and  quarry, 
indicate  activity  in  building  during  the  early  years  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  but  no  record  remains  of  the 
special  work  done.f 

It  was  during  this  time,  however,  that  the  most  im- 
portant work  of  art  within  the  cathedral,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Niccola's  pulpit,  was  commissioned  and  exe- 
cuted by  Duccio,  the  chief  of  the  painters  of  Siena. 
The  revival  of  painting  was  naturally  later  than  that  of 
sculpture  in  Italy.  As  a  more  refined  and  complicate 
art,  it  requires  a  higher  culture  than  that  demanded 
for  the  development  and  appreciation  of  the  simpler 

*  Consiglio  della  Campana,  xl.  50.  See  Appendix  I.  "  Documents  re- 
lating to  the  Duomo  of  Siena."  No.  VI. 

t  In  1303  the  commune  conceded  to  the  Opera  a  tract  of  land  known 
as  il  ptan  del  Lago,  from  which  wood  and  stone  were  supplied  for  con- 
struction. Perg.  563.  In  1305,  1306, 1308,  1310  the  Opera  bought  many 
pieces  of  woodland  and  quarry,  terra  boscata  e  petraja.  Perg.  593,  594, 
596,604,605,611,615.  Other  similar  purchases  were  made  in  1319, 
1321,  and  later  years.  As  one  tract  was  exhausted  another  was  bought. 


DUCCIO  DI  BONINSEGNA. 

processes,  motives,  and  effects  of  sculpture.  A  genera- 
tion passed  after  Niccola  Pisano  had  opened  the  way 
of  progress,  not  less  to  painters  than  sculptors,  before 
the  painters  of  Italy  showed  that  they  comprehended 
the  lesson  taught  by  his  work,  and  before  they  gained, 
by  taking  nature  as  their  model,  the  power  to  free  their 
art  from  the  bondage  to  traditional  types  of  representa- 
tion under  which  it  had  long  lain  enslaved  and  inert. 
Duccio  di  Boninsegna  was  the  first  master  of  this  new 
school  in  Siena.  Unable  to  liberate  himself  completely 
from  the  fetters  of  ancient  methods  and  conventional 
forms  of  expression,  he  yet  did  succeed  in  giving  to  his 
works  the  stamp  of  a  vigorous  originality,  and,  trusting 
to  nature  more  than  his  predecessors  had  done,  he 
reached  a  truth  in  representation,  both  of  form  and  of 
expression,  and  a  reality  of  scenic  composition,  such 
as  they  had  been  unable  to  attain.  Older  than  Giotto 
by  some  years,  of  a  less  creative  imagination,  and  a 
less  poetic  temperament,  he  at  times  rises  almost  to 
rivalry  with  the  greatest  of  Florentine  masters  in  the 
dramatic  power  of  his  composition,  and  the  simplicity 
and  sincerity  of  the  expression  of  his  single  figures. 
He  was  an  innovator,  but  only  to  such  degree  as  to 
keep  in  close  harmony  with  the  temper  of  his  advanc- 
ing contemporaries,  and  to  secure  their  appreciation, 
sympathy,  and  applause.  He  had  that  fondness  for 
gay  and  brilliant  color,  for  elaboration  of  ornamental 
detail,  and  for  exquisite  finish  which  were  afterwards 
characteristic  of  the  Sienese  school,  and  which  not 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

seldom  give  a  charm  to  pictures  that  have  little  other 
merit. 

In  1308  Duccio  entered  into  agreement  with  the 
head  of  the  works  to  paint  a  picture  for  the  high-altar 
of  the  Duomo.  It  was  to  be  the  best  he  could  do,  as 
the  Lord  should  give  him  grace  to  do  it — "  quam  melius 
poterit  et  sciverit  et  Dominus  sibi  largietur."  While 
engaged  upon  it  he  was  to  undertake  no  other  work ; 
his  salary  was  to  be  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  soldi  a  day 
for  every  day  employed  upon  it — "  pro  quolibet  die,  quo 
dictus  Duccius  laborabit  suis  manibus  in  dicta  tabula ;" 
all  needed  materials  were  to  be  supplied  to  him  free  of 
cost,  "  so  that  the  said  Duccio  shall  be  bound  to  put 
nothing  into  it  but  his  own  self  and  his  labor  " — "  ita 
quod  dictus  Duccius  nihil  in  ea  mictere  teneatur,  nisi 
suam  personam  et  suum  laborem."  * 

The  work  was  conceived  in  all  the  freshness  and 
glow  of  the  spirit  which  was  now  revivifying  the  forms 
of  painting.  It  was  to  be  worthy  of  its  destination,  and 
in  size  no  less  than  in  character  it  was  intended  to  sur- 
pass whatever  of  a  similar  sort  had  preceded  it  in  Tus- 
cany. The  main  panel,  fourteen  feet  long,  and  seven 
high,  was  set  in  a  rich  architectural  framework,  de- 
signed to  afford  places  for  numerous  minor  scenes  and 
separate  figures.  As  the  altar  stood  free  in  the  choir, 
and  the  altar-piece  was  to  be  seen  from  behind  as  well 
as  from  before,  both  sides  were  to  be  covered  with 
painting. 

*  Archivio  del  Duomo,  Perg.  603 ;  Milanesi,  Document  i,  i.  166. 


DUCCIO 'S  ALTAR-PIECE. 

The  main  subject  was  prescribed  to  the  artist  by  the 
special  devotion  of  the  Sienese  to  the  Virgin.  On  the 
front  of  his  great  panel  Duccio  represented  the  Virgin 
enthroned,  a  sweet  and  nobly  conceived  figure,  holding 
the  infant  Christ.  On  the  high  back  of  the  throne  lean 
four  angels,  while  two  on  each  side  support  its  arms. 
Angels  and  saints  are  ranged  to  the  right  and  left,  and 
kneeling  before  the  throne  are  the  four  bishops,  the 
protectors  of  the  city.  On  the  cushioned  stool  on 
which  the  feet  of  the  Virgin  rest,  the  artist  inscribed 
the  following  pious  and  proud  petition : 

Mater  •  Sancta  •  Dei  •  Sis  •  Caussa  •  Senis  •  Requiei  * 
Sis  •  Ducio  •  Vita  •  Te  •  Quia  *  Depinxit  •  Ita  • 

On  the  back  of  the  altar-piece  Duccio  painted  the 
chief  scenes  of  the  Passion  in  a  series  of  twenty-six 
compositions,  in  which  the  dramatic  quality  of  his  gen- 
ius finds  full  expression,  while  the  inspiration  that  he 
drew  from  nature  justifies  their  claim  to  rank  among 
the  best  of  the  early  productions  of  modern  creative 
art.  The  series  has  been  compared  with  that  of  the 
same  subject  by  Giotto  in  the  Arena  Chapel  at  Padua. 
The  comparison  is  unfair  to  it.  The  genius  of  Giotto 
was  solitary  in  moral  intensity  and  in  poetic  sentiment. 
But,  as  independent  and  imaginative  conceptions,  ex- 
pressed with  a  power  and  freedom  hitherto  quite  un- 
known in  Sienese  art,  Duccio's  pictures  deserve  a  very 
high  place  of  honor. 

Nearly  two  years  had  passed  since  Duccio  undertook 
the  commission  before  the  altar-piece  was  ready  to  be 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

set  in  its  place  in  the  Duomo.  It  was  on  the  gth  of 
June,  1310,  that  this  "the  most  beautiful  picture  that 
ever  was  seen  or  made,  and  that  cost  more  than  three 
thousand  golden  florins,"  as  the  chronicler  Tura  del 
Grasso  reports,  was  carried  from  the  workshop  of  the 
artist  to  the  cathedral.  The  day  was  a  festival  for  the 
Sienese.  Another  chronicler,  whose  name  is  not  known, 
but  whose  work  is  preserved  in  manuscript  in  the 
Communal  Library  of  Siena,  gives  an  account  of  the 
celebration.  He  says,  "  At  this  time  the  altar-piece  for 
the  high-altar  was  finished,  and  the  picture  which  was 
called  the  *  Madonna  with  the  large  eyes,'  or  Our  Lady 
of  Grace,  that  now  hangs  over  the  altar  of  St.  Boni- 
face, was  taken  down.  Now  this  Our  Lady  was  she 
who  had  hearkened  to  the  people  of  Siena  when  the 
Florentines  were  routed  at  Monte  Aperto,  and  her 
place  was  changed  because  the  new  one  was  made, 
which  is  far  more  beautiful  and  devout  and  larger,  and 
is  painted  on  the  back  with  the  stories  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament.  And  on  the  day  that  it  was  carried 
to  the  Duomo  the  shops  were  shut,  and  the  bishop 
conducted  a  great  and  devout  company  of  priests  and 
friars  in  solemn  procession,  accompanied  by  the  nine 
signiors,  and  all  the  officers  of  the  commune,  and  all 
the  people,  and  one  after  another  the  worthiest  with 
lighted  candles  in  their  hands  took  places  near  the 
picture,  and  behind  came  the  women  and  children  with 
great  devotion.  And  they  accompanied  the  said  pict- 
ure up  to  the  Duomo,  making  the  procession  around 


ALTAR-PIECE  CARRIED  TO   THE  DUO  MO. 

the  Campo,  as  is  the  custom,  all  the  bells  ringing  joy- 
ously, out  of  reverence  for  so  noble  a  picture  as  is  this. 
And  this  picture  Duccio  di  Niccolo  the  painter  made, 
and  it  was  made  in  the  house  of  the  Muciatti  outside 
the  gate  a  Stalloreggi.  And  all  that  day  they  stood  in 
prayer  with  great  almsgiving  for  poor  persons,  praying 
God  and  his  Mother,  who  is  our  advocate,  to  defend  us 
by  their  infinite  mercy  from  every  adversity  and  all 
evil,  and  keep  us  from  the  hands  of  traitors  and  of  the 
enemies  of  Siena."  An  entry  in  the  book  of  public 
accounts  of  the  commune  completes  the  picturesque 
narrative,  which  reminds  the  reader  of  the  story  of  the 
rejoicings  in  Florence  with  which  Cimabue's  famous 
Madonna  was  accompanied  some  years  earlier  to  its 
place  in  Sta.  Maria  Novella.  The  entry  runs  thus: 
"  Spent  on  the  transportation  of  the  picture  painted  by 
Duccio,  Lire  12  Soldi  10,  paid  to  the  sounders  of 
trumpets,  cymbals,  and  drums  for  having  gone  to  meet 
the  said  picture."* 

For  nearly  two  hundred  years  this  magnificent  work 
of  religious  art  stood  in  its  place  of  honor  over  the 
high-altar.  By  degrees  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance 
of  the  fifteenth  century  so  took  possession  of  the 
Sienese  that  they  no  longer  cared  for  their  ancient  and 
historic  treasure.  In  1 506  it  was  taken  down  from  the 

*  Milanesi,  Document!,  i.  169.  It  seems  that  the  whole  work  on  the 
altar-piece  was  not  finished  at  the  time  of  its  setting-up  over  the  high- 
altar,  and  in  November,  1310,  provision  is  made  that  "  in  laborerio  nove 
et  magne  tabule  beate  Marie  semper  Virginis  gloriose,  sollicite  et  cum 
omni  diligentia  procedatur."  Milanesi,  Documenti,  i.  175. 

IO 


I46    SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

altar,  and  its  place  filled  by  an  elaborate  bronze  taber- 
nacle, in  the  depraved  taste  of  the  later  time.  Even  its 
character  as  an  altar-piece  was  destroyed;  front  and 
back  were  divided  and  hung  upon  the  wall  at  opposite 
ends  of  the  transept ;  the  beautiful  architectural  frame- 
work was  broken  up ;  the  gradino,  painted  on  one  side 
with  figures  of  the  Apostles,  on  the  other  with  scenes 
from  the  life  of  the  Virgin,  was  sawn  in  pieces,  and  its 
dismembered  fragments  were  scattered  over  the  walls 
of  the  adjoining  sacristy.  It  is  fortunate  that  the  wanton 
iconoclasts  of  the  Renaissance  did  not  shove  the  whole 
picture  into  some  damp  lumber-room,  where  it  might 
have  been  utterly  destroyed,  as  so  many  of  the  rarest 
works  of  the  early  time  have  been,  by  mould  and  vermin. 
Early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  not  many  years  after 
the  cathedral  had  been  adorned  with  Duccio's  altar- 
piece,  a  work  was  taken  in  hand  which  had  long  been 
in  consideration,  and  which,  as  finally  accomplished, 
produced  a  great  change  in  the  form  and  aspect  of 
the  Duomo.  A  small  and  old  church,  dedicated  to  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  and  used  as  a  baptistery,  stood  on 
the  cathedral  square  in  inconvenient  neighborhood  to 
the  great  building.  It  was  now  resolved  to  carry  out 
an  old  intention  to  tear  down  this  old  church  and  to 
build  a  new  baptistery  in  a  place  where  it  should  not 
interfere  with  the  approach  to  the  Duomo.* 

*  In  1297,  "Fu  rimesso  nei  Nove  1'affare  della  Chiesa  di  San  Gio- 
vanni che  secondo  il  Capitolo  dello  Statuto  doveva  demolirsi  e  riedifi- 
carsi  in  altro  luogo."  Consiglio  della  Campana,  lii.  25.  Nothing  was  then 
done,  as  appears  from  Consiglio  della  Campana,  liii.  23,  1298.  In  1315  a 


THE  NEW  BAPTISTERY. 

The  precise  date  of  the  beginning  of  the  work  is  un- 
certain, but  it  was  not  far  from  1315  that  the  founda- 
tions of  the  new  church  were  laid.  The  site  chosen 
for  it  was  immediately  behind  the  Duomo,  where  the 
ground  fell  off  precipitously,  and  the  design  contem- 
plated not  only  the  building  of  the  baptistery  on  this 
lower  level,  but  the  extension  of  the  choir  of  the  Duo- 
mo  over  it,  so  that  the  floor  of  the  upper  church  should 
serve  as  the  ceiling  of  the  lower,  and  the  external  walls 
of  the  two  churches  form  a  continuous  and  harmonious 
structure.  There  was  to  be  no  interior  passage  be- 
tween the  churches,  but  communication  was  to  be 
maintained  by  a  broad  flight  of  external  steps  leading 
from  the  level  of  the  entrance  to  the  baptistery  up  to 
the  square  of  the  Duomo.  The  design  was  striking 
from  its  novelty  and  its  boldness.  The  Sienese  were 
always  venturesome  builders,  not  easily  turned  aside 
from  their  resolves  by  difficulties  that  might  have  ap- 
palled a  people  less  secure  in  the  resources  of  their 
arts  and  of  their  wealth.  The  work  was  rapidly 
pushed  forward,  but  the  design  did  not  meet  with 
unanimous  approval,  and  in  1322  five  expert  master 
builders  were  called  upon  by  the  authorities  of  the 
commune  to  give  their  opinion  as  to  its  merits  and  the 
probability  of  its  successful  completion.  Chief  among 
these  advisers  was  Lorenzo  Maitani,  the  renowned  ar- 


beginning  was  perhaps  made.  Consiglio  della  Campana,  Ixxxvi.  33.  In 
the  chronicle  ascribed  to  Giovanni  Bisdomini  it  is  said  that  the  fagade 
of  the  new  church  of  San  Giovanni  was  begun  in  1317. 


SIENA,  AND   OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

chitect  of  the  Cathedral  of  Orvieto,  over  the  building 
of  which,  begun  more  than  thirty  years  before,  he  was 
at  this  time  presiding.  The  five  skilled  builders  united 
in  the  opinion  that  the  work  should  not  be  proceeded 
with,  on  the  grounds  that  the  foundation  and  walls  of 
the  new  structure  were  not  of  sufficient  strength,  con- 
sidering the  great  height  to  which  the  walls  must  be 
carried ;  that  the  junction  of  the  new  structure  with 
the  old  could  not  be  effected  without  great  risk  to  the 
stability  of  the  existing  edifice ;  that  the  proposed  ex- 
tension would  throw  the  dome  "  out  of  the  centre  of 
the  cross" — "non  remaneret  in  medio  crucis  ut  rationa- 
biliter  remanere  deberet ;"  that  the  proportions  of  the 
Duomo  would  be  injured  and  the  required  relations  of 
length,  breadth,  and  height — "  ut  jura  ecclesie  postu- 
lant"— would  not  be  preserved.  As  a  sequel  to  this 
discouraging  report,  they  advised  the  construction  of  an 
entirely  new  church,  "beautiful, great,  and  magnificent" 
— "  pulcra,  magnia  [sic]  et  magnifica,  que  sit  bene  pro- 
portionata  .  .  .  cum  omnibus  fulgidis  ornamentis  ...  ad 
hoc,  ut  noster  dominus  Jesus  Christus  et  eius  Mater 
sanctissima,  eiusque  curia  celestis  altissima,  in  ipsa  ec- 
clesia  benedicatur,  et  collaudetur  in  ynnis,  et  dictum 
Comune  Sen.  ab  eis  semper  protegatur  aversis  et  per- 
petuo  honoretur."  * 

This  discouraging  advice  was  no  sooner  given  than 


*  Archivio  del  Duomo,  Perg.  667.  Printed  by  Delia  Valle,  Lettere 
Sanest,  ii.  60;  by  Rumohr,  Italienische  Forschungen,  ii.  129;  and  by 
Milanesi,  Document,  i.  186. 


DISCUSSIONS  CONCERNING   THE  WORK. 

the  operarius,  or  overseer  of  the  works,  took  measures 
to  have  a  meeting  called  "  of  seventy-five  of  the  best  and 
wisest  men  of  the  city,"  that  he  might  be  guided  by  their 
opinion  as  to  the  course  to  be  followed.  The  meeting 
was  held  in  the  palace  of  the  commune,  and,  after  full 
discussion,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  affair  was  too 
serious  to  be  determined  except  by  the  General  Coun- 
cil, before  which  it  was  resolved  to  bring  it.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  2  yth  of  March  the  matter  was  laid  before 
the  Council  by  one  of  the  counsellors  of  the  operarius* 
An  animated  debate  ensued ;  no  voice  was  raised  to 
advocate  the  adoption  of  the  proposal  to  construct  a 
new  cathedral,  the  old  one  was  good  and  beautiful 
enough,  and  it  was  strongly  urged  that  even  the  project 
of  extending  it  should  be  given  up,  and  that  it  should 
not  in  any  wise  be  touched — "dicta  vetus  ecclesia  nullo 
modo  debeat  tangi."  But  this  counsel  was  not  accept- 
able to  those  who  saw  what  added  majesty  would  be 
given  to  their  Duomo  by  boldly  lengthening  it  over 
the  new  baptistery,  and  a  vigorous  resolution  proposed 
by  Messer  Vecchietta  degli  Accarigi,  "  that  in  the 
name  of  Almighty  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 
his  mother,  the  work  should  be  steadily  proceeded 
with,  and  proceeded  with  according  to  the  plan  on 
which  it  had  been  undertaken,"  was  adopted  by  a  ma- 
jority of  149  to  73  votes.f 

*  At  this  time  there  was  what  seems  to  have  been  a  Board  of  Works, 
consisting  of  the  operarius  and  five  "consiliarii." 

t  "  Dominus  Vecchietta  de  Accherigiis  surgens  in  dicto  consilio,  ad 
dicetorium  arengando  super  dicta  proposita,  et  hiis  que  et  de  quibus  in 


SIENA,  AND   OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

In  accordance  with  this  resolve  the  work  was  vig- 
orously carried  on  for  a  time,  but,  whether  the  unfa- 
vorable and  disheartening  opinion  of  the  consulting 
architects  gradually  took  effect  in  diminishing  the  zeal 
of  the  people  for  the  undertaking,  or  whether  some 
other  cause  operated  to  the  same  result,  it  appears  that 
in  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  funds  for  construction 
fell  off,  and  the  building  made  little  or  no  progress. 
At  last,  in  1333,  the  dissatisfaction  at  this  state  of 
things  reached  such  a  point  that  the  operarius  was 
urged  by  many  "judicious  persons,  lovers  of  the 
Church" — "bonos  et  sapientes  viros,  homines  fide  dig- 
nos,  amatores  operis  majoris  ecclesie  Senarum  "  —  to 
complete  rapidly  the  construction  of  the  rough  exte- 
rior walls  of  the  building,  which  could  be  done  at  com- 
paratively little  cost,  and  to  postpone  their  adornment 
with  a  marble  facing  to  a  later  and  more  prosperous 
time.  Thus,  at  least,  both  the  great  Duomo  and  the 
baptistery  might  be  rendered  fit,  without  much  further 
delay,  for  the  services  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church. 
Upon  this  appeal  the  operarius  called  several  master 
builders  into  council,  and,  having  laid  the  case  before 
them,  they  unanimously  agreed  in  recommending  the 
adoption  of  the  proposed  course.* 

Their   counsel  was  followed,  and  to  this   day  the 

ea  continentur  et  mentio  fit,  dixit  et  consuluit  quod  in  nomine  omnipo- 
tentis  Dei  et  beate  Marie  virginis  matris  eius,  in  dicto  opere  continue 
procedatur,  et  procedi  debeat  prout  inceptum  est,"  Consiglio  dclla  Cam- 
pana,  xcvi.  74.  A  brief  extract  from  the  proceedings  may  be  found  in 
Milanesi,  Documentt,  iii.  275. 
*  Milanesi,  Document it  i.  204. 


OJ3LATES. 

eastern  end  of  the  Duomo,  built  boldly  above  the 
baptistery,  and  rising  high  over  the  narrow  valley  be- 
neath, remains,  like  so  many  of  the  most  splendid 
churches  in  Italy,  destitute  of  the  marble  facing  that 
should  have  concealed  and  covered  with  beauty  its 
rough  and  ugly  wall. 

A  curious  illustration  of  the  character  of  the  times 
and  of  the  popular  feeling  towards  the  church  is  af- 
forded by  a  document  bearing  date  in  this  same  year, 
1333,  by  which  the  operarius  pledged  himself  to  afford 
support  during  their  lives  to  one  Master  Guccio  and 
his  wife,  Mina,  who  had  given  themselves  as  "  oblates," 
with  all  their  property,  to  the  church,  devoting  them- 
selves and  their  means  to  the  advance  of  the  work. 
And,  besides  support  during  their  life,  the  operarius 
further  bound  himself  to  see  that  the  survivor  of  the 
two  should  after  death  receive  honorable  sepulture, 
and  that  due  funeral  rites  should  be  performed  for 
him  or  her,  as  it  might  be.  Such  devotion  of  one's 
self  and  one's  property  to  works  for  the  service  of  the 
Lord  had  not  been  uncommon  during  those  centuries, 
in  which  men  and  women  were  actuated  by  an  earnest 
and  sincere  faith  in  the  dogmatic  teachings  of  the 
Church.  To  any  one  of  lively  imagination  it  was  but 
little  to  give  up  the  brief  present  joys  of  material  life, 
and  to  offer  himself  and  all  that  he  might  possess  to, 
the  service  of  Him  who  had  promised  to  reward  his 
servants  with  endless  and  unutterable  satisfactions. 
The  fear  of  suffering  for  sin — the  awful  dread  of  hell 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

— quickened  the  readiness  to  make  whatever  sacrifices 
were  needed  for  exemption  from  penalty.  Justifica- 
tion by  works  was  not  then  strictly  divided  from  jus- 
tification by  faith,  and  it  was  honestly  believed  that  to 
do  good  deeds  and  to  make  sacrifices  for  the  Lord's 
sake  was  at  least  as  virtuous  as  to  believe  aright  and 
have  confidence  in  the  Lord's  sacrifice  as  the  atone- 
ment for  one's  own  sins.  The  same  spirit  that  led  men 
to  venture  life  and  fortune  in  the  Crusades  led  them  to 
give  themselves  to  any  labor  that  tended  directly  to 
the  honor  of  the  Saviour  or  of  the  blessed  Mother  of 
God."  * 

The  zeal  exhibited  by  Master  Guccio  and  his  wife, 
Mina,  was,  however,  not  common  in  these  days.  Siena 
had  been  growing  rich,  and  as  her  wealth  increased  the 
offerings  of  her  piety  seem  to  have  diminished.  But 
although  the  operarius  was  stinted  for  the  means  to 
carry  the  building  to  completion,  the  cathedral  itself 
still  remained  an  object  of  prime  interest  to  the  Si- 

*  See  Du  Cange,  Gloss,  art.  "  Oblati."  The  document  referred  to  in 
the  text  begins, "  Anno  Domini  millesimo  trecentesimo  trigesimo  tertio, 
inditione  prima,  die  quinto  mensis  junii.  Certum  est  quod  tu  magister 
Guccius,  olim  Golli,  infrascriptus,  pro  te  ipso,  et  vice  et  nomine  domine 
Mine  uxoris  tue,  ad  honorem  Dei,  et  beate  Marie  virginis  matris  eius, 
obtulisti  te,  et  donasti  titulo  donationis  inter  vivos,  mihi  Balduccio 
Contis  Ciaccacontis,  civi  Senensi,  operario  operis  beate  Marie  virginis 
de  Senis,  pro  dicto  opere  stipulanti,  unam  domum  positam  Senis  in 
populo  Abbatie  Arcus  .  . .  et  duas  domos  contiguas  positas  Senis  in 
populo  Sancti  Donati, .  .  .  et  etiam  donasti  mihi  pro  dicto  opere  stipu- 
lanti, omnia  bona  tua  et  etiam  lucrum  tue  persone  totius  tempore  vite 
tue,  et  si  extra  domos  dicti  opferis  laborares  aliquo  tempore,  lucrum 
quod  inde  faceres  vel  haberes  sit  et  esse  debeat  operis  supradicti." 
Arch,  di  Stato,  Opera  Metrop.  di  Siena,  Anno  1333. 


REVISION  OF  THE  STATUTE. 

enese.  It  was  the  custom  in  Siena,  as  in  many  other 
of  the  free  cities  of  Italy  during  the  Middle  Ages,  to 
make  frequent  revision  of  its  constitution  or  codified 
statutes,  for  the  purpose  of  modifying  them  as  the 
changes  of  time  and  circumstance  might  require.  The 
work  of  revision,  which  included  the  codification,  or 
adaptation  to  the  Statute,  of  such  enactments  as  had 
been  made  since  the  previous  revisal  and  compilation, 
was  usually  intrusted  to  some  jurist  of  repute,  often 
a  citizen  of  another  city,  or  to  a  number  of  persons 
learned  in  the  law.  The  statute  as  revised  was  sub- 
mitted for  examination  and  discussion  to  the  popular 
assembly ;  and,  if  found  acceptable,  was  adopted  by 
formal  vote,  thus  becoming  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
State,  and  superseding  the  statute  previously  in  vigor. 
Since  1260,  the  date  of  the  earliest  existing  statute, 
there  had  been  numerous  revisions  of  this  sort.  But, 
whatever  the  changes  in  the  form  of  the  code,  what- 
ever the  fluctuations  of  popular  feeling  in  other  mat- 
ters as  expressed  by  alterations  of  the  fundamental 
law,  the  provisions  concerning  the  cathedral  always 
held  a  foremost  place  in  the  statute  under  which  the 
republic  was  governed.  Thus,  in  1334,  when,  on  the 
recommendation  of  a  commission  of  thirteen  learned 
men — "tredecim  sapientes  viros  statutarios  civitatis  Se- 
narum  " — certain  new  enactments  were  embodied  in 
the  statute,  there  was  one  among  them  providing  for 
the  better  progress  of  the  work  on  the  Duomo.* 

*  As  this  ordinance  shows  the  method  of  procedure  proposed  for 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

A  few  years  later,  in  1337,  a  complete  revision  of  the 
Statutes  was  made,  and  the  first  article  of  the  new  Con- 
stitution related  to  "  the  protection  and  defence  of  the 
greater  church  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary."  *  It  was 

the  furtherance  of  the  work,  and  as,  I  believe,  it  has  never  been 
printed,  I  give  the  text  in  full : 

"DE     PROVIDENDO     QUOMODO      IN     OPERE     SANCTE     MARIE     MELIUS 

PROCEDATUR. 

"  In  primis  statutum  et  ordinatum  est  pro  evidenti  melior^mento 
operis  Sancte  Marie  et  hedificationis  maioris  ecclesie  Senensis :  Quod 
de  mense  iulii  proxime  accessuro,  postquam  electi  fuerint  operarius, 
scriptor,  et  consiliarii  novi  dicti  operis,  Domini  Novem,  qui  de  dicto 
mense  iulii  in  offitio  residebunt,  teneantur  et  debeant  vinculo  iura- 
menti  consiliarios  dicti  operis  qui  nunc  in  offitio  resident,  et  etiam  alios 
consiliarios  dicti  operis  novos  pro  futuris  sex  mensibus  eligendos  com- 
pellere  et  compelli  facere  in  simul  convenire  et  super  dicto  opere  dili- 
genter  providere  quecumque  viderint  fore  utilia,  et  meliora  pro  con- 
structione,  et  melioramento,  accelleratione,  et  evidenti  utilitate  operis 
prelibati.  Et  omnia  et  singula  que  dicti  consiliarii  tarn  novi  quam 
veteres  in  simul  providebunt,  in  predictis  vel  eorum  occasione,  tenean- 
tur et  debeant  omnino  referre  offitio  dominorum  Novem.  Ac  deinde 
dictum  offitium  dominorum  Novem,  una  cum  aliis  ordinibus  civitatis 
Senarum,  et  dictis  consiliariis  veteribus  et  novis,  super  dicta  materia  et 
relatis  per  dictos  consiliarios,  diligenter,  sapienter,  et  bene  teneantur  et 
debeant  providere.  Et  quecumque  in  predictis,  et  super  predictis,  de- 
liberaverint  et  providerint,  valeant  et  teneant  et  executioni  plenarie  ac 
effectualiter  demandentur  per  operarium  operis  memorati,  ac  si  per 
generale  consilium  campane  comunis  et  populi  Senarum  foret  suffi- 
center  et  solenniter  reformata."  Statuti  di  Siena,  xviii.  c.  383. 

*  In  the  records  of  the  Consiglio  della  Campana  of  the  nth  of 
August,  1337,  it  appears  that  the  new  compilation  of  the  Statutes 
of  Siena  being  completed  by  the  labor  "  del  sapiente  uomo  Niccola 
d'  Angelo  da  Orvieto,"  it  was  resolved  that  it  should  be  examined, 
emended,  and  corrected  so  far  as  there  was  occasion.1  Cons,  dell 
Camp.  cxxi.  1 5. 

The  statute  as  adopted  begins  as  follows : 

"  In  nomine  Dei  amen.  Incipit  prima  distinctio  constituti  comunis 
Senarum. 

"  De  protectione  et  defensione  maioris  ecclesie  beate  Marie  virginis, 
et  episcopatus  Senarum,  et  eorum  bonorum  et  jurium,  et  quod  in  opere 


THE  STATUTE  OF  1337. 

still  the  most  important  affair  of  the  community,  for  it 
was  the  visible  expression  of  their  continued  devotion 
to  the  Virgin,  the  protectress  of  the  city,  and  it  was 
becoming  that  their  statute  should  begin  with  provi- 
sions that  might  seem  to  invoke  her  favor  on  the  peo- 

dicte  ecclesie  continue  sit  unus  custos,  et  unus  operarius,  et  unus 
scriptor,  et  sex  consiliarii,  et  de  ipsorum  consilii  officio." 

This  distinction  of  the  statute  also  embraced  rules  for  the  election 
of  the  operarius,  and  for  the  offerings  to  be  made  at  the  Feast  of  the 
Madonna  in  August.  The  operarius  was  to  be  a  man  "  sciens  legere  et 
scribere,  qui  habeat  pro  suo  salario  quolibet  mense  libras  quinque  dena- 
riorum.  Et  possit  dare  libere  de  vino  dicti  operis  servientibus  in  dicto 
opere  prout  eidem  videbitur  pro  melioramento  ipsius  operis."  This 
last  clause  gave  a  final  settlement  to  a  long-standing  grievance.  Thirty 
years  before,  in  1308,  a  petition  had  been  presented  to  the  Signori  Nove, 
the  magistracy  of  Siena,  and  by  them  referred  to  the  General  Council, 
from  the  masters  and  laborers  on  the  cathedral,  stating  that  they  were 
not  supplied  with  wine  from  the  opera,  and  begging,  for  the  love  of  the 
Virgin,  that  the  wine  coming  from  the  vineyards  that  had  been  given 
to  the  opera  for  the  good  of  the  work  might  be  allowed  to  them,  "  for 
otherwise  they  must  go  to  drink  at  the  taverns  or  at  their  own  houses, 
for  they  cannot  labor  all  day  without  drinking,  and  thus  the  work  suf- 
fers great  harm,  and  to  save  one  penny  it  loses  twelve  in  the  time 
that  is  wasted  by  the  workmen  in  going  and  coming."  Arch,  del 
Ditomo,  Libro  di  Documenti  Artistici,  No.  I. 

Besides  the  operarius,  there  was  to  be  a  good  scribe  attached  to  the 
works,  who  was  to  act  as  secretary  to  a  council  of  six  good  men  to  be 
chosen,  two  from  each  third  of  the  city,  without  whose  consent  no  new 
piece  of  work  should  be  undertaken,  and  who,  in  common  with  the 
operarius,  should  oversee  and  provide  for  all  the  interests  of  the  build- 
ing. The  scribe — "  bonus  scriptor  " — was  also  to  keep  account  of  all 
the  income  and  outgo  of  the  works.  Timber  for  the  building  was  to 
be  cut  and  marble  to  be  quarried,  and  both  were  to  be  brought  to  the 
city  at  the  expense  of  the  commune.  The  operarius  was  to  have  the 
right  to  take  stone  and  marble  from  any  quarry,  even  against  the  will 
of  the  owner,  giving  him,  however,  a  receipt  for  what  might  be  taken 
which  should  be  available  as  a  claim  against  the  commune. 

The  provisions  of  the  statute  include  many  other  points  of  detail  of 
more  or  less  interest,  but  enough  has  been  given  to  show  its  general 
scope.  The  volume  in  which  it  is  contained  is  tomo  xxv.  (tiumerazione 
anticd)  degli  Statuti  del  Comune  di  Siena,  in  the  Archivio  di  Stato. 


!  56    SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

pie  and  her  all-sufficient  aid  in  the  support  of  their 
laws  and  the  maintenance  of  their  republic. 

But  though  the  desire  to  propitiate  their  celestial  ad- 
vocate was  still  perhaps  as  strong  as  ever  among  the 
Sienese,  yet  the  spiritual  temper  of  the  people  had 
undergone,  in  common  with  that  of  their  neighbors  in 
Florence  and  elsewhere,  a  great  change  during  the  last 
hundred  years.  The  slowly  developed  sense  of  civic 
community  which  was  the  basis  of  the  social  order 
that  had  gradually  risen  from  the  confusion  of  the 
Dark  Ages  had  grown  into  confidence  in  the  continu- 
ity of  the  existence  of  the  community  itself.  With  the 
development  of  commercial,  social,  and  political  rela- 
tions, life  had  become  more  complex.  The  increase  of 
power  and  of  wealth  had  brought  luxury.  The  increase 
of  knowledge  and  of  self-dependence  had  been  accom- 
panied with  a  decrease  in  the  naive  piety  and  sincere 
faith  of  earlier  times.  Religion  was  becoming  more 
formal — more  a  matter  of  outward  observance  and  less 
of  interior  conviction.  Manners  were  less  simple  than 
of  old.  The  picture  that  Cacciaguida  draws  of  the 
Florence  sobria  e  pudica  of  his  own  time,  as  contrasted 
with  the  splendid  and  dissolute  Florence  of  Boccaccio's 
stories,  illustrates  the  general  change  in  the  spirit  of 
the  people  in  the  cities  of  Italy. 

The  arts  showed  their  sympathy  with  this  change. 
Architecture  lost  power  in  original  and  imaginative 
expression.  It  fell  off  in  the  essential  qualities  of  man- 
ly and  thoughtful  building.  The  tendency  of  the 


MORAL  CHANGE  IN  THE  POPULAR  TEMPER. 

Italian  architects  to  sacrifice  the  principles  of  good 
construction  to  picturesque  effects  became  more  and 
more  pronounced.  Sculpture  and  painting  made  rapid 
progress  in  skill  and  ease  of  mechanical  execution,  and 
were  more  and  more  employed  to  minister  to  the  grow- 
ing taste  for  domestic  magnificence  and  personal  dis- 
play, though  not  yet  reduced,  as  in  later  times,  to  mere 
household  menials.  While  they  gained  in  science  and 
in  productiveness,  they  lost  in  dignity  of  motive  and 
truth  of  sentiment.  They  gained  a  new  perfection  of 
grace,  a  fresh  variety  of  fancy,  and  a  wider  range  of 
expression,  but  they  lost  in  depth  of  imagination  and 
serious  meaning. 

Siena  felt  the  full  force  of  these  currents  of  change. 
She  had  grown  in  size  and  power;  she  had,  on  the 
whole,  in  the  long  course  of  years,  been  prosperous ; 
her  wealth  had  increased,  and  her  people,  even  in  ear- 
ly days  inclined  to  display,  now  fell  easily  into  lavish 
modes  of  living.  The  seed  of  luxury  readily  took  root 

in  her  soil, 

"  Nell'  orto  dove  tal  seme  s'  appicca." 

The  stories  of  the  extravagance  of  the  rich  Sienese 
youth  have  a  touch  of  Oriental  excess.  After  more 
than  five  hundred  years,  the  tradition  of  the  brilliant, 
festive  life  of  the  reckless  spendthrifts  who  got  the 
name  of  the  brigata  spendereccia  still  holds  its  place  in 
the  popular  memory,  and  still  serves  as  an  illustration 
of  the  prodigal  spirit  of  the  whole  town.* 
*  See  /«/ir;z0,cantoxxix.i2i-i32,  and  Buti's  comment  upon  the  verses. 


158    SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

Siena  had  never  prospered  more  steadily,  had  never 
been  gayer,  had  never  brought  more  important  works 
to  conclusion,  than  in  the  years  between  1320  and  1340. 
She  had  completed  her  magnificent  public  palace  for 
the  magistracy  of  the  State;  her  great  citizens  were 
building  new  and  more  splendid  palaces  than  the  old 
for  their  own  habitation ;  she  was  bringing  in  fresh  sup- 
plies of  water  and  erecting  new  fountains ;  she  was 
strengthening  and  extending  her  walls  and  opening 
new  gates.  A  census  taken  in  1328  showed  that  her 
population  had  largely  increased  during  the  last  gen- 
eration,* and  her  numbers  gave  her  reliance  on  her 
strength  and  on  her  capacity  to  accomplish  whatever 
she  might  resolve. 

The  languid  progress  and  the  incomplete  condition 
of  the  works  on  the  cathedral,  the  chief  building  of  the 
city,  were  far  from  satisfactory  to  a  people  in  this  tem- 
per of  mind.  The  adverse  judgment  of  the  architects 
who  had  been  called  upon  for  counsel  in  regard  to  the 
extension  of  the  Duomo  over  the  new  Church  of  St. 
John,  though  disregarded,  had  not  been  forgotten ;  and 
the  advice,  which  at  the  time  had  been  little  heeded, 
was  now  recalled,  that  a  new  Duomo,  "  pulcra,  magnia 
et  magnifica,  cum  omnibus  fulgidis  ornamentis,"  should 
be  erected  in  honor  of  Our  Lord  and  his  most  holy 
Mother.  The  old  Duomo  had,  indeed,  been  good 

*  The  number  of  heads  of  families  was  11,711.  Under  the  head  of 
a  great  family  would  be  reckoned  a  very  large  number  of  more  or  less 
closely  connected  retainers. 


PROJECT  FOR  A  NEW  CATHEDRAL. 

enough  for  the  old  Siena;  but  a  new  generation  had 
arisen  with  larger  thoughts,  and  new  Siena  required  a 
new,  a  greater,  a  more  splendid  church.  Such  was  the 
conviction  of  a  large  party  in  the  city ;  but  there  were 
others  who  held  to  the  old  ways,  and  to  whom  the  old 
church,  with  its  century  of  memories  and  sacred  asso- 
ciations, was  dear,  who  urged  that  to  attempt  to  build 
a  more  magnificent  cathedral  would  be  but  to  waste 
the  means  and  energy  of  the  commune  in  an  under- 
taking not  merely  needless,  but  objectionable.  At 
length  a  plan  was  proposed  fitted  to  conciliate  alike 
those  who  desired  a  new  Duomo  and  those  who  would 
maintain  the  old.  The  design  was  of  surprising  and 
admirable  boldness.  It  was  no  less  than  to  change  the 
whole  lay  of  the  cathedral,  and,  adopting  the  existing 
edifice  as  a  transept  for  a  new  church,  to  erect  a  nave, 
aisles,  and  choir  of  proportionate  dimensions.  The 
building  that  had  so  long  been  the  pride  of  Siena 
would  thus  be  preserved  in  its  integrity,  and  all  past 
labor  upon  it  would  inure  to  the  benefit  of  the  new 
and  vastly  grander  edifice.  This  design,  if  carried  out, 
would  give  to  Siena  far  the  most  magnificent  and  glo- 
rious cathedral  in  Italy,  a  building  for  which  the  rev- 
enues of  a  kingdom  would  hardly  suffice,  but  which 
Siena,  rich  in  resource  and  in  money,  proud,  ambitious, 
devout,  trustful  in  herself  and  her  future,  felt  able  to 
construct  without  misgiving  or  exhaustion.  The  pro- 
ject was  brought  before  the  Council  of  the  Bell  on  the 
23d  of  August,  1339,  and  before  the  popular  assembly 


I6O     SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

broke  up  that  afternoon  it  was  resolved,  by  2 1 2  votes 
against  132,  that  "a  new  nave  should  be  built"  accord- 
ing to  the  plan  proposed,  provided,  however,  that  the 
work  now  in  progress  be  proceeded  with  diligently.* 

The  resolve  having  been  taken,  there  was  no  delay 
in  making  the  necessary  preparations  for  carrying  it 
out.  The  ground  on  which  it  was  proposed  to  build 
the  new  nave  was  thickly  covered  with  houses,  and  the 
records  of  the  Duomo  show  that  the  operarius  at  once 
set  to  work  to  purchase  house  after  house,t  or  to  ex- 
change for  a  house  in  this  region  some  house  belong- 
ing to  the  opera  in  another  part  of  the  city.|  The 
nuns  of  the  Hospital  of  Mona  Agnese  "out  of  their 
piety  "  concede  three  of  their  houses  as  a  gift  to  the 
work,  and  promise  to  sell  two  more.§  Before  the  end 
of  the  year,  almost  all  the  land  that  was  needed  seems 
to  have  been  secured.  A  still  more  important  step  had 
been  taken  in  the  sending  by  the  commune  to  Naples 
to  induce  Master  Lando  di  Pietro  to  return  to  Siena 
to  take  the  place  of  superintendent  of  the  public  works 
of  the  commune,  and  especially  of  the  cathedral.  Lan- 
do was  a  native  of  Siena,  a  man  of  varied  accomplish- 

*  "  Navis  dicte  ecclesie  de  novo  fiat,  et  extendatur  longitude  dicte 
navis  per  planum  sancte  Marie  versus  plateam  Manettorum,  seu  pla- 
team  que  Manettorum  dicitur,  sicut  et  quomodo  designatum  est .  .  . 
dummodo  in  opere  novo  dicte  ecclesie  jam  incepto  nichilominus  sol- 
licite  et  continue  procedatur,  tantum  quantum  et  prout  requiritur  ad 
proportionem  operis  dicte  navis."  Cons,  della  Campana,  cxxv.  18. 
Milanesi,  Documenti,  i.  226.  The  "opus  jam  inceptum  "  was  probably 
the  work  on  the  extension  of  the  Duomo  over  the  baptistery. 

t  Arch,  del  Duomo.    Perg.  766,  768, 769,  771,  778, 779,  781,  790,  792, 796. 

}  Id.  Perg.  775, 776.  §  Id.  Perg.  780,  784. 


MASTER  LANDO  DI  PIETRO.  l6i 

ment  —  goldsmith,  mechanician,  architect,  engineer — 
and  now  of  wide  repute,  so  that  his  services  were  sought 
in  many  quarters  in  Italy.  When  the  proposal  for  re- 
calling him  from  Naples  was  introduced  into  the  coun- 
cil, he  was  described  as  a  man  of  highest  worth,  of  great 
ingenuity  and  invention,  not  only  in  his  own  art  of  gold- 
smithery,  but  in  many  other  arts  besides,  and  as  well  in 
what  relates  to  the  building  of  churches  as  to  the  con- 
struction of  palaces,  houses,  streets,  bridges,  and  foun- 
tains ;  and  it  was  urged  that  it  would  be  greatly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  commune  that  a  man  of  such  excel- 
lence should  not  remain  absent  and  distant  from  Siena, 
but  that  he  should  dwell  always  in  the  city,  in  order  to 
give  his  counsel  and  aid  in  respect  to  all  public  works, 
and  especially  to  the  new  construction  of  the  cathe- 
dral.* 

There  is,  unfortunately,  no  evidence  to  show  whether 
the  design  on  which  the  new  edifice  was  begun  was 
due  to  Master  Lando,  or  whether  it  was  the  work 

*  "  Quod  cum  notorium  sit,  et  certum  in  civitate  Senarum,  quod  pro- 
vidus  vir  magister  Landus  aurifex,  est  homo  legalissimus,  et  non  solum 
in  arte  sua  predicta,  sed  in  multis  aliis  preter  dictam  suam  artem,  est 
homo  magne  subtilitatis  et  adinventionis,  tarn  his  que  spectant  ad  edi- 
ficationes  palatiorum  et  domorum  comunis,  et  viarum  et  pontium  et 
fontium,  et  aliorum  operum  comunis  Senensis ;  et  ipse  magister  Lan- 
dus moram  seu  habitationem  contrahat  ad  presens  in  civitate  Neapoli- 
tana,  ut  ibidem  suum  honorem  augeat  et  profectum ;  et  convenientius 
et  utilius  esset  pro  comuni  Senarum  quod  homo  tante  bonitatis  non 
absens  et  longinquus  a  civitate  Senarum,  sed  potius  in  ipsa  civitate 
continue  permaneret,  ut  suum  consilium  et  iuvamen  impenderet  tarn 
operibus  fiendis  in  majori  ecclesia  Senensi  quam  comuni  Senarum  in 
omnibus  aliis  supradictis."  Cons,  della  Campana,  cxxv.  54.  Milanesi, 
Document  t,  i,  228. 

II 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

of  the  genius  of  some  nameless  architect.  Whoever 
was  its  author,  he  was  a  consummate  master  of  noble 
and  exquisite  design,  full  of  imagination  in  its  general 
conception,  full  of  fancy  in  detail,  of  grandest  and 
most  picturesque  effect.  The  Italian  architects,  even 
when  without  other  merit,  have  usually  shown  a  pre- 
eminent sense  of  the  value  of  just  proportions,  and  of 
harmony  in  the  relation  of  parts  to  each  other  and  to 
the  whole  building ;  and  in  this  respect  the  design  for 
the  new  Duomo  was  of  surpassing  merit.  Had  the 
work  been  completed  according  to  the  plan,  it  would 
have  been  not  only  the  most  picturesque,  but  the  most 
dignified  and  beautiful,  of  the  cathedrals  of  Italy. 

Master  Lando  seems  to  have  accepted  at  once  the 
proposal  of  the  republic,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year 
1339  he  had  entered  on  the  duties  of  his  office.  The 
preparations  for  the  beginning  of  the  work  were  active- 
ly completed,  and  on  the  2d  of  February,  in  the  winter 
of  1339-40,  the  first  stone  of  the  new  building  was  laid 
with  great  solemnity,  with  religious  services  and  civic 
festivities.* 

The  work  was  hardly  fairly  begun  before  a  heavy  ca- 
lamity fell  on  the  city.  One  of  the  violent  epidemics 
to  which  the  people  in  the  close  towns  of  the  Middle 
Ages  were  constantly  exposed  raged  for  some  months, 

*  The  following  entry  in  the  accounts  of  the  operajo  probably  be- 
longs to  this  date :  "  Anco  ij.  lib.  x.  sol.,  e  quali  si  spesero  in  carne  e  in 
pane,  e  in  vino  che  si  mando  a'  preti  di  Duomo  perche  venero  a  diciare 
1'  ufficio  quando  si  fondo  la  prima  pietra  nel  fondamento  de  la  facciata 
nuova  del  Duomo." 


CALAMITIES  AND  RECOVERY. 

making  Siena  mourn  for  many  of  her  chief  citizens, 
among  them  for  Master  Lando  himself,  whom  at  this 
moment  she  could  ill  spare.  To  the  pestilence  suc- 
ceeded famine,  the  result  of  the  interruption  caused  by 
the  epidemic  in  the  regular  course  of  industry  and  traf- 
fic. The  fields  had  been  left  untilled,  and  the  harvest 
failed.  The  magistracy,  called  that  of  Abundance,  sent 
to  Sicily,  to  France,  and  to  Spain  for  cargoes  of  grain ; 
but,  owing  to  many  disasters  and  delays,  the  supplies 
were  late  in  reaching  Siena,  and  but  scanty  after  all ; 
and  though  more  than  forty  thousand  golden  florins 
were  spent  from  the  public  treasury  to  relieve  their 
misery,  the  common  people  suffered  terribly.* 

This  year  there  can  have  been  little  spirit  and  small 
means  for  pushing  on  the  works  at  the  Duomo.  But 
the  recovery  from  the  losses  and  depression  of  these 
successive  calamities  was  rapid.  The  prosperity  of  the 
city  had  been  checked  but  for  a  moment.  In  a  year 
or  two  the  people  had  recovered  spirit,  and,  feeling 
themselves  once  more  rich  and  flourishing,  engaged 
with  fresh  ardor  in  carrying  forward  old  and  new  works 
for  the  service  or  adornment  of  their  town.  In  1343 
water  was  introduced  through  long  underground  chan- 
nels to  the  fountain  in  the  Campo,  known  ever  since  as 
the  Fonte  Gaia — the  Glad  Fountain — from  the  rejoic- 
ings and  gladness  of  the  people,  as  the  clear  stream 
flowed  abundantly  into  the  square  which  was  the  chief 
stage  of  the  public  life  of  the  city.  Two  years  later  the 

*  Cronica  Sanese  di  Agnolo  di  Tura.   Muratori,  Rer.  Ital.  Script,  torn.  xv. 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

great  bell-tower  on  the  same  piazza,  the  tower  of  the 
Palace  of  the  Republic,  was  completed.  The  new  walls 
of  the  cathedral  were  rising  rapidly.  There  were  vast 
activity  and  productiveness  in  all  the  arts.  And  while 
the  town  was  thus  beautifying  herself  within,  she  was 
extending  her  dominion  and  exercising  jurisdiction 
over  wider  territory  than  had  ever  before  been  subject 
to  her  rule.  Siena  had  never,  to  outward  seeming,  been 
so  strong,  so  flourishing,  so  full  of  confidence  in  herself 
as  now.  She  had  reached  the  acme  of  her  splendor 
and  the  crisis  of  her  story. 

With  increase  of  wealth  and  strength  had  come  in- 
crease of  luxury  and  wantonness.  The  sources  of  civic 
virtue  and  of  public  spirit  were  beginning  to  run  low. 
Men  were  less  honest,  women  less  modest,  than  of  old. 
The  people  were  more  than  ever  gente  vana.  The  new 
generation  was  growing  up  less  hardy,  more  passionate 
and  lustful,  than  the  old  had  been.  The  laws  became 
ineffectual  to  restrain  men  who  no  longer  reverenced 
justice.  In  1341  one  of  the  annalists  makes  entry, 
"  Many  homicides  committed  in  Siena."  The  ferocity 
displayed  by  all  classes  in  their  feuds  and  vengeances 
was  revolting.  Revenge  and  wrath  knew  no  mercy. 
Men  taken  by  their  enemies  were  tortured  to  the  point 
of  death,  but  revived  to  be  tortured  again,  and  killed  at 
last  with  every  refinement  of  savage  cruelty.  There  is 
no  redeeming  trait  of  romance  or  generosity  in  these 
bloody  records.  At  last  affairs  became  so  bad  that  the 
council,  finding  that  no  check  could  be  put  on  the 


CORRUPTION  OF  ITALY. 

cruel  and  violent  practices  of  the  time,  passed  an  ordi- 
nance to  the  effect  that  at  the  Feast  of  the  Assump- 
tion, at  Christmas,  and  during  Holy  Week  there  should 
be  truce  among  all  those  involved  in  feuds,  that  they 
might  go  to  their  devotions  with  more  quiet  minds.  At 
all  other  seasons  men  carried  their  lives  in  their  hands, 
for  the  assassin  might  lurk  at  any  corner,  the  avenger 
of  real  or  fancied  wrong  might  interrupt  the  gayety  of 
any  feast  with  "  the  furious  close  of  civil  butchery." 

Siena  was,  in  truth,  not  alone,  nor  even  pre-eminent, 
in  wickedness  among  Italian  cities.  She  shared  in  the 
general  corruption  of  Italy.  The  Decameron  affords  a 
picture  of  a  society  without  convictions,  honor,  or  puri- 
ty :  selfish,  violent,  and  timid ;  and  yet  in  depicting  this 
society  Boccaccio  omitted  many  of  the  darkest  traits. 

But  a  day  of  reckoning  was  at  hand.  Nowhere  was 
a  heavier  penalty  exacted  than  at  Siena.  In  her  height 
of  pride,  she  was  struck  down  by  a  blow  from  which 
she  never  recovered. 

The  summer  of  1347  had  been  very  sickly.  At  some 
of  the  Tuscan  ports,  especially  at  Pisa,  a  violent,  appar- 
ently contagious,  disease — brought,  it  was  believed,  on 
some  infected  vessel  from  the  East — had  raged  during 
the  hot  weather,  ceasing  only  with  the  coming  of  win- 
ter. The  next  spring  it  broke  out  afresh.  It  spread 
through  Italy.  The  plague  of  1 348  was  the  most  fatal 
epidemic  on  record.  Many  accounts  of  it  from  eye- 
witnesses have  come  down  to  us.  The  Sienese  chron- 
icler Agnolo  di  Tura  gives  a  brief  narrative  concern- 


!66      SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

ing  it,  which  renders  all  other  narrative  superfluous : 
"  At  this  time,"  he  says,  "  the  great  mortality  began  in 
Siena,  greater,  gloomier,  more  terrible  than  could  ever 
be  told  or  imagined,  and  so  it  lasted  till  October.  It 
was  so  severe  that  men  and  women  died  of  it  all  of  a 
sudden.  The  groin  and  the  armpit  became  swollen, 
and  suddenly,  while  they  were  talking,  men  died.  The 
father  scarcely  stayed  to  watch  his  child ;  one  brother 
fled  from  another ;  the  wife  deserted  her  husband,  be- 
cause it  was  said  that  this  disease  was  caught  by  look- 
ing, and  from  the  breath.  And  so  it  was,  in  truth,  for 
so  many  people  died  in  the  months  of  May  and  June, 
and  July  and  August,  that  no  one  could  be  found  who 
would  bury  them  for  hire.  Neither  relation  nor  friend 
nor  priest  nor  friar  went  with  them  to  the  grave,  nor 
was  the  service  said.  But  he  to  whom  the  dead  be- 
longed, as  soon  as  the  breath  was  out,  took  up  the  body, 
whether  by  day  or  night,  and  with  the  help  of  two  or 
three  carried  it  to  the  church;  and  then  they  them- 
selves buried  it  as  best  they  could,  covering  it  with  a 
little  earth,  that  dogs  might  not  devour  it.  And  in 
many  places  in  the  city  enormous  trenches  were  made, 
and  bodies  were  thrown  into  them  and  covered  with  a 
little  earth,  and  then  other  bodies  were  put  in  and  cov- 
ered in  turn,  and  so  on,  layer  by  layer,  till  the  trench 
was  full.  And  I,  Agniolo  di  Tura,  called  Grasso,  bur- 
ied five  of  my  children  in  one  trench  with  my  own 
hands,  and  many  others  did  the  like.  The  bells  were 
not  rung,  no  mourning  was  made  for  any  one,  grievous 


THE  PLAGUE  OF  1348.  !6y 

as  the  loss  of  him  might  be,  for  almost  every  one  was 
expecting  death,  and  things  went  in  such  fashion  that 
people  did  not  believe  that  any  one  would  be  left ;  and 
many  men  believed  and  said,  '  This  is  the  end  of  the 
world.'  Neither  physician  nor  physic  availed  aught, 
nor  was  any  precaution  of  use ;  but  rather  it  seemed 
that  the  more  care  one  took,  the  sooner  he  died.  And, 
in  truth,  the  mortality  was  so  dark*  and  great  and  hor- 
rible that  no  pen  could  describe  it.  And  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  in  this  time  there  died  in  Siena  more  than 
eighty  thousand  persons." 

Such  was  the  plague  at  Siena.  Agnolo  di  Tura  goes 
on  to  relate  some  of  its  immediate  effects.  "  The  peo- 
ple who  had  escaped  from  the  plague  were  all  glad,  and 
thought  of  nothing  but  rejoicing,  and  took  no  heed  of 
what  they  spent  or  how  they  played;  for  every  man 
felt  himself  to  be  rich,  seeing  that  he  had  escaped  from 
such  a  pestilence.  And  all  who  remained  alive  were 
as  brothers,  greeting  each  other  and  jesting  with  each 
other  as  though  they  had  been  relations.  And  they 
paid  no  regard  to  aught  but  enjoyment  and  feasting; 
for  to  each  man  it  seemed  as  that  he  had  regained  the 
world,  and  it  appeared  as  if  no  one  could  settle  down 
to  do  anything."! 

It  was  long  before  the  usual  course  of  life  renewed 
itself  in  the  desolated  city,  long  before  the  survivors 

*  Oscura — "  the  black  death." 

t  Cronica  Sanese  di  Andrea  Dei  contimtata  da  Agnolo  di  Tura,  dalV 
Anno  \\ttfino  al  1352.     Muratori,  Rer.  Ital.  Script,  torn. xv. col.  123. 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

became  accustomed  to  the  changed  conditions  in  which 
they  found  themselves.  The  confusion  not  only  of  af- 
fairs, but  of  relations  between  men,  resulting  from  the 
sudden,  indiscriminate  sweeping-away  of  two  thirds  or 
three  quarters  of  the  population  of  a  close,  compact 
city,  can  hardly  be  too  strongly  depicted.  For  a  time 
all  the  common  order  of  society  was  broken  up.  In 
Siena  one  hundred  noble  families  had  become  extinct. 
In  many  cases  no  heirs  were  left  for  estates  and  prop- 
erty. Men  without  claim  took  possession  of  houses 
and  goods,  their  right  to  which  no  one  was  left  to  dis- 
pute. Half  the  city  was  vacant  and  falling  to  ruin.  It 
seemed,  says  one  of  the  chroniclers,  as  if  nobody  were 
left  in  Siena.  The  condition  of  the  city  would  have 
been  even  worse  had  her  enemies  not  suffered  from 
the  same  calamity.  All  Tuscany  was  half  depopulated. 
On  all  sides  there  were  bewilderment  and  expectancy. 
Events  must  be  left  to  take  their  own  course ;  men 
could  not  all  at  once  understand  the  position  in  which 
they  actually  stood  ;  they  must  learn  it  by  waiting  for 
experience.  In  1350,  the  second  year  after  the  plague, 
the  city,  says  Malavolti,  "  was  still  afflicted  by  the  late 
pestilence,  and  I  do  not  find  that  it  did  anything  wor- 
thy of  memory  for  public  service  or  advantage."*  Nor 
was  anything  of  this  sort  done  the  next  year,  or  the 
next.  Siena  did  not  recover  from  the  blow  that  had 
stricken  her  down.  By  degrees,  however,  men  grew 
familiar  with  the  new  aspect  of  things;  life  began  to 

*  Hhtoria,  parte  ii.  lib.  vi.  p.  108,  b. 


RESULTS  OF   THE  PLAGUE. 

run  in  its  old  channels,  trade  sprang  up,  but  the  spirit 
of  the  city  had  been  broken,  and  public  affairs  went 
from  bad  to  worse. 

This  was  no  period  for  the  carrying-on  of  great  pub- 
lic works.  The  plague  had  not  only  swept  off  the  mas- 
ter workmen  from  the  Duomo,  but  it  had  dried  up 
many  of  the  sources  of  supply  for  the  construction  of 
the  new  building.  Still  more  than  this,  it  had  so  re- 
duced the  numbers  of  the  people  that  even  the  old  ca- 
thedral might  well  seem  too  great  for  the  needs  of  the 
shrunken  city.  The  new  design  had  been  adopted  by 
a  light-hearted  people,  prosperous  and  confident  of  the 
future ;  it  was  far  too  vast  and  superb  to  be  executed 
by  a  people  hardly  a  third  as  numerous  as  that  which 
had  undertaken  the  work — a  people,  moreover,  depress- 
ed in  spirit,  distracted  by  internal  confusion,  and  humil- 
iated to  the  point  of  submission  to  unworthy  enemies. 

The  records  of  the  year  of  the  plague,  and  of  those 
immediately  succeeding,  are  very  scanty.  In  1348,  and 
the  two  next  years,  the  operajo  bought,  at  a  low  price, 
a  few  houses  which  probably  occupied  a  part  of  the 
ground  required  for  the  new  building.*  The  means 
for  the  purchase  were  drawn  from  the  offerings  at  the 
church  during  the  fatal  season,  in  which  the  votive  gifts 
extorted  from  terror  had  been  of  no  avail  to  obtain  im- 
munity from  what  was  conceived  to  be  the  stroke  of 
Divine  wrath.  No  progress  of  importance  was  made  in 
the  \vorks,  and  in  1353  the  operajo  presented  a  suppli- 

*  Archivio  del  Duomo,  Perg.  833,  842,  847. 


jyo    SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

cation  to  the  magistracy,  setting  forth  that  for  five  years 
past  the  customary  subsidy  from  the  commune  had  not 
been  paid,  and  begging  that  the  payment  should  be  re- 
newed. The  council,  moved  by  piety,  and  by  desire 
that  the  work  should  not  come  to  a  stop,  granted  his 
request* 

But  the  end  was  near,  and  the  fate  of  the  new  build- 
ing was  to  correspond  with  that  of  Siena  herself.  The 
finest  design  of  the  architecture  of  the  Middle  Ages  in 
Italy  was  not  to  be  brought  to  perfection.  After  a  year 
or  two  in  which  the  records  of  the  building  are  a  blank, 
they  recommence  in  1356  with  a  series  of  documents 
of  deplorable  significance.  Defects  had  become  visi- 
ble in  the  construction  of  the  new  cathedral.  Whether 
it  was  that  Lando  had  left  no  successor  able  to  carry 
forward  the  great  and  difficult  project,  or  whether  the 
plan  had  been  in  itself  too  bold,  or  whether  during  the 
wretched  years  that  followed  his  death  the  masonry  of 
the  building  had  been  carelessly  and  slightingly  per- 
formed, cannot  be  told.  But  the  defects  that  now  de- 
clared themselves  were  sufficient  to  awaken  the  anxiety 
of  the  operajo  and  his  counsellors,  and  they  summoned, 
from  Florence  and  elsewhere,  skilled  masters  to  exam- 
ine the  work  and  give  advice  concerning  it.  From  the 
opinion  given  by  one  of  them,  Benci  di  Cione,  of  Flor- 
ence, it  appears  that  four  columns  had  shown  such 

*  Consiglto  della  Campana,  tomo  civ.  p.  28.  It  appears  that  previous- 
ly five  hundred  and  fifty  lire  had  been  paid  annually  from  the  public 
treasury  for  the  benefit  of  the  work.  Archivio  del  Duomo,  Perg.  808, 
Anno  1343.  See  Appendix  I.  Document  IX. 


DEFECTS  MANIFEST  IN  THE  NEW  CATHEDRAL.    l^l 

weakness  that  the  vaulting  arches  and  the  walls  that 
rested  upon  them  had  become  insecure,  and  that  there 
was  no  mode  by  which  the  harm  could  be  satisfactorily 
repaired.  In  his  judgment,  the  best  course  would  be 
to  take  down  walls,  arches,  and  columns.*  The  opin- 
ions of  the  other  architects  who  were  consulted  have 
not  been  preserved,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  they  were  of  a  different  tenor. 

Such  a  misfortune  as  this  would  have  been  enough 
to  discourage  a  community  even  less  burdened  with 
calamity  than  that  of  Siena.  It  compelled  the  magis- 
trates and  the  people  to  new  deliberations,  and  the  con- 
viction at  last  forced  itself  home  upon  them  that  they 
must  give  up  the  hope  of  completing  the  work,  begun 
less  than  twenty  years  before  under  conditions  so  dif- 
ferent from  those  under  which  the  city  now  lay.  The 
capomaestro  of  the  opera,  Domenico  d'  Agostino,  and 
Master  Niccolo  di  Cecco,  who  had  long  been  employed 
upon  it,  were  now  called  on  to  give  their  judgment.  It 
was  briefly  to  the  effect  that,  considering  all  that  must 
be  destroyed  of  the  old  church  if  the  new  one  were 
constructed  as  had  been  proposed,  and  that  the  work 
to  be  destroyed  could  not  be  rebuilt  at  a  less  cost  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  florins  of  gold,  and  be- 
lieving that  with  the  present  income  of  the  opera  the 
new  church  could  not  be  completed  in  a  hundred  years, 
it  were  the  wiser  counsel  that  the  old  Duomo  be  left 
standing  as  it  then  stood;  and  that  the  prolongation 

*  Milanesi,  Document '/,  i.  249. 


SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

of  the  choir  over  the  new  baptistery,  or  Church  of  St. 
John,  begun  so  many  years  before,  but  the  progress  of 
which  had  been  interrupted  by  the  works  on  the  new 
Duomo,  should  now  be  carried  forward  to  its  end. 
This  work  could  be  accomplished,  they  thought,  within 
five  years,  and  the  city  would  then  possess  a  cathedral 
and  a  baptistery  sufficient  for  its  needs,  if  not  for  its 
ancient  pride.* 

The  tenor  of  this  counsel  harmonized  with  the  fallen 
fortunes  and  depressed  spirit  of  the  republic.  But, 
though  no  other  course  than  to  adopt  this  recommen- 
dation seemed  feasible,  it  was  not  resolved  upon  with- 
out further  deliberation.  A  committee  of  twelve  citi- 
zens was  appointed  by  the  magistrates  to  consult  and 
report  upon  the  subject.  Their  conclusion  was  unani- 
mous and  decisive.  They  reported  that,  having  care- 
fully inspected  the  work  of  the  new  church,  and  having 
consulted  the  best  master  builders,  both  of  Siena  and 
from  abroad,  they  had  found  that  the  walls  of  the  new 
church  were  defective  and  not  strong  enough  to  sup- 
port the  necessary  building  upon  them ;  that  they  were 
even  already  threatening  to  fall ;  wherefore  it  was  rec- 
ommended that  all  the  interior  walls  and  vaults  and 
other  portions  of  the  church  be  demolished  as  speedily 
as  possible,  and  nothing  of  it  left  standing  but  the  out- 
er walls.  This  report  was  made  in  the  month  of  June, 
1357.  It  appears  to  have  been  at  once  adopted,  and 
immediately  acted  upon  by  the  governors  of  the  repub- 

*  Milanesi,  Documents,  i.  251. 


DEMOLITION  OF  THE  NEW  CATHEDRAL.        j^ 

lie.*  Each  stone  thrown  down  from  the  marble  walls 
might  have  served  as  a  slab  on  which  to  inscribe  the 
lost  hopes  of  Siena,  to  commemorate  her  former  glory, 
to  record  her  fall. 

And  here  with  the  resolve  to  demolish  the  interior 
of  the  new  building,  and  to  leave  only  the  outer  walls 
standing,  the  story  of  the  Duomo  at  Siena  as  a  great 
civic  work — a  work  in  which  the  hearts  and  energies 
of  the  people  were  engaged — comes  to  an  end.  From 
this  time  forward  the  Sienese  contented  themselves  with 
their  old  Duomo,  leaving  the  bare  but  magnificent  walls 
of  their  later  design  to  stand  as  the  splendid  sepulchral 
monument  of  the  past  glory  and  greatness  of  the  State, 
of  the  largeness  of  its  spirit,  and  the  abundance  of  its 
resources.  Thus  these  walls  still  stand,  more  impressive 
to  the  imagination  than  if  they  belonged  to  a  completed 
building,  the  stateliest  memorial  of  disappointment  in 
the  land  of  noble  designs  left  incomplete.  Had  Siena 
not  been  stricken  down,  and  had  she  retained  spirit  to 
complete  the  new  cathedral  as  it  was  begun,  it  would 
have  been  the  most  magnificent  building  of  its  sort  in 
Italy,  and  one  of  the  noblest  cathedrals  in  all  Europe. 
The  existing  portions  of  it  show  the  Gothic  harmo- 
nized with  the  Italian  spirit  in  admirable  accord,  the 
one  not  losing  its  energy  nor  the  other  its  grace,  but 
both  so  interfused  and  united  that  the  charm  and 
power  of  each  commingle  in  rare  fulness  of  effect. 
Exquisite  in  its  colossal  proportions,  in  division  of  its 

*  Milanesi,  Documentt,  i.  254. 


174    SIENA  /AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

spaces,  and  exquisite  also  in  its  decoration,  in  which 
something  of  the  refined  elegance  of  the  best  work  of 
the  Renaissance  is  already  visible,  the  fragments  of  the 
incomplete  edifice  are  not  only  more  interesting,  but 
more  beautiful,  than  the  completed  structure  to  which  it 
forms  the  most  picturesque  and  striking  of  forecourts. 

There  is  no  need  to  trace  the  further  history  of  the 
Duomo  in  detail ;  for  the  building  no  longer  has  inter- 
est as  the  expression  of  the  will  of  a  people  full  of  vigor, 
conscious  of  a  common  life,  and  capable  of  sustained 
exertions  and  abiding  passions. 

The  very  next  record  that  I  have  noted  is,  indeed, 
curiously  expressive  of  the  change  that  had  come  over 
the  Sienese  since  the  day  of  the  victory  of  Montaperti  a 
century  before.  In  1363  a  dreaded  band  of  free  lances, 
called  the  Company  del  Capelletto,  ravaged  the  territo- 
ry of  Siena,  burning  and  devastating  far  and  wide,  till 
finally,  seizing  on  the  stronghold  of  Campagnatico,  it 
threatened  to  establish  itself  there  as  a  headquarters 
whence  to  make  forays  so  long  as  anything  was  left  in 
the  territory  to  plunder.  The  Sienese,  so  low  had  they 
sunk,  sent  envoys  to  the  captain  of  the  band  to  offer 
him  a  large  sum  of  money  if  he  would  take  his  troop 
elsewhere,  but  the  offer  was  refused.  Driven  to  de- 
spair, Siena  then  began  to  get  together  a  troop  of  mer- 
cenaries, mostly  Germans,  in  order  to  try  to  drive  out 
the  freebooters  by  show  of  force.  The  command  was 
given  to  Messer  Francesco  Orsino,  of  Rome,  or,  as  he  is 
called,  M.  Francesco  di  M.  Giordano  de'  figlioli  d'  Orso, 


DEFEAT  OF  THE  COMPANY  DEL  CAPELLETTO.     ij$ 

and  his  orders  were  on  no  account  to  join  battle 
with  the  company  of  marauders,  for  fear  of  defeat  and 
of  exposing  the  city  to  danger.  Messer  Francesco, 
however,  taking  advantage  of  a  favorable  opportunity, 
disobeyed  his  orders,  attacked  the  band,  routed  it  with 
great  slaughter,  made  its  captain  prisoner,  and  returned 
to  Siena  triumphantly,  having  delivered  the  city  from  a 
great  fear.  For  his  victory  Francesco  was  rewarded, 
but  for  his  disobedience  he  was  removed  from  com- 
mand. A  day  or  two  afterwards  the  ruling  magistrates 
of  the  city,  li  Signori  Dodici,  had  a  solemn  mass  cele- 
brated at  the  Duomo,  to  return  thanks  for  the  victory, 
and  great  offerings  were  made  by  the  commune  and 
by  private  citizens.*  Further  than  this,  at  their  next 
meeting  the  council  voted  that  a  chapel  should  be 
erected  in  the  Duomo,  at  the  expense  of  the  republic, 
in  honor  of  St.  Paul,  with  a  painting  to  commemorate 
the  victory  obtained  over  the  Company  del  Capelletto.t 
The  altar-piece  has  perished,  but  on  the  wall  of  the 
Sala  delle  Balestre,  in  the  Palace  of  the  Republic,  a 
picture  of  the  battle  may  still  be  seen,  which  the  mag- 
istrates had  painted  in  honor  of  the  victory  won  for  Si- 
ena by  mercenary  arms. 

The  change  which  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  peo- 
ple had  undergone  in  the  course  of  a  hundred  years 
was  no  ordinary  alteration.  The  people  seem  no  longer 

*  Cronache  dtNeri  di  Donate.   Muratori,  Script.  Rer.  Ital.  torn.  xv.  col. 
179-180. 
t  Consiglio  della  Campana,  clxxvi.  57. 


I  76     SIENA,  AND   OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

the  same  in  blood,  and  the  contrast  between  the  glory 
of  the  victory  of  Montaperti  and  the  shame  of  such  a 
chance  defeat  of  a  loose  band  of  marauders,  serves  to 
measure  their  degeneracy. 

In  the  course  of  years  Siena  recovered  some  degree 
of  prosperity  and  strength,  but  she  never  regained  her 
ancient  power  or  her  former  vigor.  The  old  Duomo 
and  the  Church  of  St.  John  were  in  a  few  years  com- 
pleted according  to  the  resolve  taken  in  1357,  and 
thenceforward  such  interest  as  the  citizens  contin- 
ued to  feel  in  the  building  was  expressed  in  works  of 
finish  or  adornment.  The  vaults  of  the  cathedral  were 
painted,  its  windows  were  filled  with  painted  glass,  a 
pavement  of  inlaid  marble  of  various  design  was  laid 
down,*  alterations  were  made  in  the  facade,  and  from 

*  This  pavement,  which  has  ever  since  been  one  of  the  boasts  of  Si- 
ena, was  begun,  according  to  Milanesi  (Document,  i.  176),  about  1369. 
Vasari  was  in  error  in  ascribing  the  first  designs  for  it  to  Duccio.  It 
is  a  work  in  which  the  talents  of  the  artist  and  the  materials  employed 
are  alike  perverted  to  the  least  appropriate  uses ;  but  it  is  much  ad- 
mired by  persons  who  like  to  be  amused  with  the  ingenious  artifices 
of  misapplied  skill.  "  C'est  certainement,"  says  M.  Labarte,  "  ce  qui  a 
ete  fait  de  plus  beau  en  ce  genre."  From  time  to  time  during  the  last 
five  hundred  years  the  pavement  has  been  renewed,  and  during  the 
sixteenth  century  an  artist  of  considerable  but  exaggerated  repute, 
Domenico  Beccafumi,  gave  designs  for  the  floor  of  the  choir,  which 
surpassed  in  their  kind  all  that  had  been  seen  before.  The  merit  of 
this  sort  of  work  as  pavement  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  for  ten  or 
eleven  months  out  of  twelve  it  is  carefully  protected  by  a  covering  of 
planks. 

Details  concerning  the  designs  of  the  pavement,  and  the  artists  em- 
ployed on  it  at  different  periods,  may  be  found  in  Vasari's  Life  of  Bec- 
cafumi ;  in  Milanesi,  Document*  (see  Index,  iii.  p.  414.  Siena,  Duomo, 
Spazzd) ;  in  Labarte's  Htstoire  des  Arts  Industriels  au  Moyen-Age,  tome 
iv.  p.  305  ;  and  in  all  the  local  guide-books. 


WORKS  OF  THE  RENAISSANCE. 


177 


time  to  time  many  an  ornament  was  added,  and  many 
a  change  in  minor  features  was  made  both  within  and 
without. 

Through  the  next  two  centuries  the  most  noted  ar- 
tists of  Siena,  and  many  from  abroad,  were  employed 
to  enrich  it  with  their  works,  till  it  became  the  treasure- 
house  that  it  still  remains  of  the  decorative  arts  of  the 
most  brilliant  period  of  Italian  culture.* 

Work  on  such  a  building  never  ceases.  Each  new 
generation,  with  its  new  fancies,  finds  something  to  add 
or  to  alter.  Time  does  its  work  of  waste,  and  years 
bring  constant  need  of  repair  and  restoration.  Siena 
had  her  share  in  the  revival  of  old  arts  and  letters,  and 
in  the  birth  of  modern  culture  and  sentiment ;  and  the 
Renaissance  left  a  deep  mark  on  the  Duomo  in  works 
sharply  contrasted  with  those  of  an  earlier  age,  not  only 
in  quality  of  design  and  execution,  but  in  the  motive 
of  their  construction.  They  are  mostly  monuments  of 
the  pride  and  wealth  of  special  families  or  individuals, 
and  no  longer  serve  as  expressions  of  the  spirit  and 
devotion  of  the  whole  community. 

The  history  of  the  Duomo  had  ceased  to  be  that  of 
Siena.  The  sentiment  of  corporate  unity,  of  common 
interests  in  the  bonds  of  a  common  civic  life  and  a 
common  religious  faith,  had  been  strong  enough,  in 
spite  of  civil  discord  and  party  divisions,  to  secure  the 

*  See,  for  an  account  of  some  of  these  works,  "  L'Eglise  Cathedrale 
de  Sienne  et  son  Tresor,  d'apres  un  Inventaire  de  1467,  traduit  et  an- 
note  par  Jules  Labarte,"  in  the  Annales  Archeologiques,  tome  xxv. 

12 


jyg    SIENA,  AND  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  ASSUMPTION. 

independence  of  the  community,  and  to  inspire  it  with 
magnanimous  designs.  But  this  sentiment  gave  way 
before  the  development  of  rationalism  and  of  individu- 
alism. Men  grew  indifferent  alike  to  the  claims  of  re- 
ligion and  of  the  community.  Their  emotions  were 
brought  more  and  more  under  the  control  of  reason, 
and  their  energies,  which,  united  in  effort  towards  a 
common  end,  had  once  rolled  as  a  vast  stream  in  a 
deep,  however  narrow,  channel,  were  now  dispersed  in 
slender  and  widely  separated  currents. 

The  Duomo,  that  had  been  the  expression  and  wit- 
ness of  the  strong  forces  of  the  life  of  the  community 
of  Siena,  became  the  evidence  of  their  decay.  To  the 
imagination,  even  to  the  eye,  of  the  lover  of  the  past, 
Siena  exists  only  in  the  works  and  deeds  of  her  early 
time.  Her  cathedral  and  her  palace  are  monuments 
over  the  grave  of  the  passions,  hopes,  and  faith  of  gen- 
erations that  were  capable  of  efforts  beyond  the  mark 
of  modern  times. 


IV 
FLORENCE  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER 


IV. 

FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF   THE  FLOWER. 

I.  THE  BUILDING  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

"  Never  was  our  city,"  says  Machiavelli,  speaking  of 
Florence  as  she  was  at  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury— "  never  was  our  city  in  a  greater  or  happier  con- 
dition than  at  this  time,  being  full  of  men,  of  riches, 
and  of  renown.  Her  citizens  capable  of  bearing  arms 
numbered  thirty  thousand,  and  those  of  her  territory 
seventy  thousand.  All  Tuscany,  partly  as  subject  to 
her,  partly  as  friendly  to  her,  obeyed  her."4  Nowhere 
in  Italy  was  trade  more  flourishing,  or  the  arts  more 
zealously  cultivated.  Her  citizens,  however  divided  by 
party  discords,  were  united  in  a  common  pride  in  their 
city.  The  fame  of  her  strength  and  her  beauty  was 
wide-spread ;  "  so  that  many,"  says  a  chronicler  of  the 
time,  "  come  to  see  her,  not  of  necessity,  or  because  of 
the  excellence  of  her  trades  and  arts,  but  because  of 
her  beauty  and  adornment."  Yet  this  beauty  and 
adornment  had  been  wrought  out  for  her  in  spite  of 
internal  contention  and  division.  Peace  seldom  dwelt 
within  her  walls.  The  eager  and  hasty  temper  of  her 

*  Istorie  Florentine,  ib.  ii.  §  1 5. 


I $2    FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

citizens  was  quickly  kindled  into  passionate  outbreaks 
and  tumultuous  uproar,  in  which  civil  order  was  for 
the  time  broken  up,  and  the  very  existence  of  the  State 
seemed  to  be  at  stake. 

The  thirteenth  century  had  been  a  long  struggle  be- 
tween the  feudal  and  civic  nobility  and  the  mass  of  the 
common  people,  in  which  the  grandi  had  for  the  most 
part  gained  the  upperhand.  Through  the  intricate 
record  of  a  hundred  years  one  may  trace  the  baffled 
but  persistent  effort  of  the  compact  and  industrious 
democracy  to  achieve  such  a  combination  of  their 
forces  as  to  enable  them  to  get  the  better  of  their  aris- 
tocratic oppressors.  The  rule  of  an  unscrupulous,  quar- 
relsome, and  tyrannical  privileged  class  was  incompati- 
ble with  the  institutions  requisite  for  the  prosperity  of 
the  industrious  community.  Gradually  a  form  of  or- 
ganization was  worked  out  by  the  trades,  resembling 
that  of  the  guilds  of  Northern  cities,  but  more  political 
in  its  character,  which,  in  spite  of  various  checks  and 
numerous  futile  endeavors,  at  length,  towards  the  end 
of  the  century,  succeeded  in  mastering  the  old  nobility 
and  in  establishing  itself  as  the  chief  power  in  the 
government  of  the  city.  This  result  was  reached  in 
1292. 

The  opening  clauses  of  the  Ordinances  of  Justice, 
by  which  the  new  order  of  the  State  was  regulated,  in- 
dicate the  spirit  of  those  by  whom  this  revolution  had 
been  accomplished:  "Whereas  justice  is  a  steady  and 
constant  will  that  give  ;  to  each  man  his  rights,  there- 


THE  "ARTI"  OF  FLORENCE. 

fore  the  following  ordinances,  properly  called  the  Ordi- 
nances of  Justice,  are  ordained  for  the  benefit  of  the 
republic,"  to  the  end  of  establishing  "  true  and  perpet- 
ual concord  and  unity,  and  of  securing  peace  and  tran- 
quillity for  the  artificers  and  arts,  and  for  all  the  people 
of  Florence."* 

The  political  administration  was  concentrated  in  the 
arti,  or  organized  trades  of  the  city.  These  comprised 
twelve  arti  maggiori,  or  chief  trades,  and  nine  arti  mi- 
nori,  or  lesser  trades :  under  the  banner  of  one  or  the 
other  of  these  trades  the  mass  of  the  citizens  was  en- 
rolled.! 

*  The  Ordinamenti  di  Giustizia  are  to  be  found  in  the  Archivio  Sto- 
rico  Italiano,  Ser.  II.  tomo  i.  pp.  1-93,  Firenze,  1855 ;  and  also  in  Emi- 
liani-Giudici,  Storia  dei  Comuni  Italiani,  tomo  iii.  pp.  5-147,  Firenze, 
1866.  They  are  remarkable  for  the  display  of  the  political  sense  and 
vigorous  resolve  of  their  framers. 

t  The  division  of  the  industrial  population  of  Florence  into  "arts" 
appears  first  near  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century ;  but  it  was  not  till 
1 266,  at  the  time  of  the  political  revolution  consequent  on  the  defeat 
and  death  of  Manfred,  that  the  arts  were  organized  as  civil  and  politi- 
cal corporations.  At  that  time  there  were  seven  chief  arts,  of  which 
Villani  (lib.  vii.  cap.  xiii.)  gives  the  list  as  follows :  i ,  lawyers  and  notaries ; 
2,  merchants  of  calimala,  that  is,  of  French  cloths  ;  3,  bankers  ;  4,  wool- 
merchants  ;  5,  physicians  and  druggists ;  6,  silk  manufacturers  and 
dealers;  7,  furriers.  To  these  were  added  in  1282  (Villani,  lib. vii. cap. 
Ixxix.)  five  more,  as  follows :  8,  retail  dealers ;  9,  butchers ;  10,  shoe- 
makers; n,  master  carpenters  and  masons;  12,  smiths.  In  1292  the 
Ordinamenti  di  Giustizia  adds  to  the  enumeration  of  the  twelve  chief 
arts  nine  lesser  arts,  as  follows  :  13,  vintners  ;  14,  innkeepers  ;  15,  deal- 
ers in  salt,  oil,  and  cheese ;  16,  leather-dressers  ;  17,  armorers  ;  18,  lock- 
smiths and  dealers  in  old  and  new  iron;  19,  saddlers  and  shield  and 
corslet  makers;  20,  joiners;  21,  bakers.  This  order  of  the  arts  was 
preserved  essentially  the  same  during  the  existence  of  Florence  as  a 
republic.  Compare  Goro  Dati  (in  Napier's  Hist,  of  Florence,  ii.  101), 
about  1380;  and  Machiavelli,  1st.  Florentine,  lib.  ii.  §  viii.,  and  Varchi, 
Storia  Fiorentina,  lib.  iii.  §  21.  "All  the  citizens  of  Florence,"  says 


FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

Florence,  like  other  Italian  cities,  was  accustomed 
annually  to  call  upon  some  personage  from  a  remote 
but  allied  city  to  exercise  the  functions  of  Podesta,  or 
chief  executive  officer,  within  her  limits ;  but  all  the 
other  magistrates  of  the  commonwealth  were  to  be 
chosen  from  the  members  of  the  twelve  chief  Arts. 
The  grandi,  or  nobles,  were  expressly  excluded  from 
office.  Each  of  the  Arts  had  its  own  officers,  and  each 
was  required  to  maintain  a  military  organization  for 
the  support  of  order  and  the  defence  of  the  city.  Each 
of  them  had  its  written  statute,  by  which  its  members 
were  governed,  while  provision  was  made  that  the  vari- 
ous statutes  should  be  in  harmony  one  with  the  other 
so  far  as  the  common  interest  required.  It  was  the  ob- 
ject of  these  statutes  to  secure  at  once  the  good  order 
of  the  city  and  the  prosperity  of  the  trades. 

The  provisions  of  these  codes,  so  far  as  judgment  may 
be  formed  from  the  only  one  of  them  which  has  come 
down  to  us — the  Statute  of  the  Art  of  Calimala,  or  of 
foreign  cloth  merchants  —  indicate  the  sound  political 
sense  of  the  Florentine  tradesmen,  and  their  full  under- 

Varchi,  "were  obliged  to  enroll  themselves  in  one  of  the  twenty-one 
Arts ;  that  is,  no  one  could  be  a  burgher  of  Florence  unless  he  or  his 
ancestors  had  been  approved  and  matriculated  in  one  of  these  arts, 
whether  he  practised  it  or  not.  Without  proof  of  matriculation  he 
could  not  be  drawn  for  any  office  or  exercise  any  magistracy."  An  in- 
teresting account  of  the  character  and  political  influence  of  the  arts  is 
given  by  Von  Reumont  in  his  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  Band  i.  p.  18  seq., 
Leipsig,  1874 ;  and  a  notice  of  the  devices  on  their  banners  (mainly  from 
Villani,  lib.  vii.  cap.  xiii.),  and  other  particulars  of  interest  concerning 
them,  in  the  same  author's  earlier  and  very  useful  work,  Tavole  Crono- 
logiche  e  Sincrone  della  Storia  Fiorentina,  Firenze,  1841,  Introduzione,  p. 
11,  n.  3. 


COMMERCIAL  MORALITY  OF  FLORENCE.         jgr 

standing  that  permanent  commercial  prosperity  depends 
upon  moral  conditions ;  first  of  all,  upon  the  uprightness 
and  integrity  of  the  individual  tradesman.  Every  pre- 
caution is  taken  to  secure  fair  dealing,  and  to  maintain 
firm  credit.  Heavy  penalties  are  enacted  against  fraud, 
perjury,  misrepresentation,  and  unfair  competition.  It  is 
required  of  the  merchants  "to  use  pure,  loyal,  and  simple 
truth  "  in  all  their  dealings.  There  is  a  stamp  of  piety 
and  uprightness  on  the  whole  statute.  The  provisions 
in  respect  to  the  method  in  which  accounts  were  to  be 
kept,  to  the  terms  of  credit,  to  bankruptcy  and  the  re- 
covery of  debts,  to  usury  and  prices,  are  ample,  careful, 
and  minute.  In  the  trade  of  Florence  there  was  noth- 
ing of  the  looseness  of  modern  competitive  dealings; 
nothing  of  the  spirit  that  seeks  gain  at  any  cost,  even 
that  of  truth  and  honesty ;  nothing  of  the  disposition 
to  make  undue  profit,  and  to  reckon  every  trick  fair  in 
trade.  There  was  a  standard  of  commercial  morality 
as  exact  as  that  to  which  the  weights  and  measures  of 
the  shops  were  made  to  conform.  Florence  was  re- 
solved that  her  credit  should  be  good,  and  that  neither 
rival  nor  enemy  should  have  a  right  to  reproach  her 
with  slackness  in  the  fulfilment  either  of  public  or  of 
private  obligations.  The  four  consuls  who  were  chosen 
to  rule  each  of  the  Arts,  holding  office  for  six  months, 
were  to  be  selected  from  "  the  best  and  most  useful 
merchants  ;"  and  they  were  to  be  "  Guelfs  and  lovers  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Church,  and  in  their  choice  no  cava- 
lier was  to  take  part."  It  was  from  these  consuls  of 


FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

the  trades  that  the  priors  of  the  city  were  chosen,  and 
neither  Ghibelline  nor  noble  was  to  have  part  in  the 
government  of  the  State. 

The  Arts  thus  combined  and  organized  could  control 
the  most  powerful  and  lawless  of  the  great,  and  for 
some  years  Florence  experienced  the  benefit  of  the 
new  order  of  affairs  in  an  unwonted  sense  of  security 
and  a  rapid  increase  of  prosperity.  The  strength  that 
lies  in  union  and  concord  inspired  her  with  confidence 
in  herself,  and  she  made  a  splendid  display  of  the  great 
qualities  and  designs  of  her  trading  and  industrious 
democracy.  The  citizens  of  a  compact  walled  town, 
having  no  regular  or  general  communication  with  the 
distant  outside  world ;  occupied  with  few  interests  but 
those  of  their  households,  their  shops,  and  their  city ; 
engaged  in  pursuits  that  kept  them  close  within  the 
narrow  circuit  of  their  native  streets,  were  naturally 
filled  with  a  spirit  of  local  attachment  little  short  of 
devotion,  and  this  spirit  was  the  source  of  great  under- 
takings, in  which  their  religion,  their  pride,  and  their 
patriotism  might  find  expression.  The  Arts,  each  a  lit- 
tle commonwealth  in  itself,  served  to  quicken  and  in- 
tensify the  public  spirit ;  to  bring  home  to  their  mem- 
bers the  sense  of  common  interests  and  duties ;  and  to 
maintain  a  standard  of  principle  and  of  action  to  which 
each  member  was  compelled  to  conform,  by  the  strong 
pressure  of  a  concentrated  public  opinion. 

Seldom  has  a  nobler  activity  or  a  more  abundant 
productiveness  been  displayed  than  Florence  exhibited 


PRODUCTIVENESS  OF   THE  ARTS.  jg; 

at  this  period.  The  quick  wit,  the  lively  fancy,  and  the 
poetic  imagination  of  her  people  were  aroused.  Her 
poets  drew  inspiration  from  her,  and  gave  it  back 
through  their  verses  for  the  quickening  of  the  hearts 
of  her  people.  They  were  the  most  noted  in  Italy, 
even  before  Dante  lifted  Florence  to  the  topmost  peak 
of  fame,  and  Dante  was  now  already  meditating  his 
divine  poem.  Her  painters  had  broken  the  bonds  of 
tradition  which  had  long  restrained  their  progress,  and 
Cimabue  held  the  field  against  all  rivals.  Her  archi- 
tects and  builders  were  showing  themselves  masters  in 
their  art,  and  the  number  of  great  works  of  building, 
many  of  which  are  still  among  the  chief  ornaments  of 
the  city,  begun  in  the  ten  years  between  1290  and  1300 
indicates  alike  the  ability  of  the  architects  and  the  en- 
ergy and  abundant  resources  of  the  community.  Dur- 
ing these  years  the  churches  of  Santa  Maria  Novella 
and  of  the  Carmine,  as  well  as  the  loggia  of  Or'  San 
Michele,  were  in  process  of  construction ;  the  founda- 
tions of  the  churches  of  Santo  Spirito,  of  San  Marco, 
of  Santa  Maria  in  Cafaggio  (now  known  as  the  Annun- 
ziata),  of  Santa  Croce,  together  with  its  vast  convent, 
were  all  laid;  and  the  building  of  the  Palace  of  the 
Priors  and  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  Bartholomew  was  be- 
gun. Nor  does  this  complete  the  list.  The  thriving 
city  was  extending  her  limits,  and  building  a  new  cir- 
cuit of  walls  with  towers  for  the  common  defence, 
erected  in  part  out  of  materials  obtained  by  the  demo- 
lition of  some  of  the  tall  and  massive  towers  which  had 


FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

served  as  the  dens  and  strongholds  of  those  grandi 
whose  lawless  power  she  was  engaged  in  repressing.* 

But  besides  all  these  works,  she  set  about  what  was 
to  prove  a  much  more  important  undertaking.  The 
old  church  of  Santa  Reparata,  that  had  long  served  as 
her  Duomo,t  stood  in  need  of  repair,  and  on  the  nth 
of  September,  1294,  an  appropriation  from  the  public 
treasury  of  four  hundred  lire  was  voted  for  this  pur- 
pose. On  the  2d  of  December  of  the  same  year  a  sim- 
ilar appropriation  was  made,  with  a  slight  but  signifi- 
cant change  in  terms — for  the  church  "the  repairing 
and  renewal  of  which  are  now  in  progress."  \ 

No  more  definite  information  than  this  remains  con- 
cerning the  beginning  of  the  work  of  construction  of 
that  new  cathedral  which  was  destined  to  become  the 
most  characteristic  and  impressive  edifice  in  Florence, 
and  to  employ  her  chief  artists  for  the  next  two  hun- 
dred years.  But  there  is  an  apocryphal  decree,  the 
invention  probably  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in  which 
its  author  expressed  what  he  not  unfitly  conceived  to 
have  been  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the  earlier  time.§  As 

*  See  Moise,  Santa  Croce  di Firenze,  Firenze,  1845,  pp.  51,  52,  and  Reu- 
mont,  Tavole  Cronologiche,  for  these  years. 

t  The  first  authentic  mention  of  the  Church  of  Santa  Reparata  is 
in  724. 

\  Gaye,  Carteggio  inedito  d'  Artisti,  dei  Secoli  XI  V.XV.X  VI.,  Firenze, 
1 839,  tomo  i.  pp.  425, 427.  Every  student  of  the  history  of  Italian  art  finds 
himself  under  obligations  to  this  invaluable  collection  of  documents. 

§  The  desire  of  communities  and  of  individuals  to  perpetuate  their 
fame  by  monumental  buildings  is  one  of  the  most  characteristic  feat- 
ures of  Italian  culture.  Nowhere  was  it  stronger  than  in  Florence. 
Burckhardt,  in  his  Geschichte  der  Renaissance  in  Italien,  Stuttgart,  1868, 


RESOLVE  FOR  A  NEW  DUO  MO. 

reported,  the  decree  runs  thus :  "  Whereas  it  is  the 
highest  concern  of  a  people  of  illustrious  origin  so  to 
proceed  in  their  affairs  that  men  may  perceive  from 
their  works  that  their  designs  are  at  once  wise  and 
magnanimous,  it  is  therefore  ordered  that  Arnolfo,  ar- 
chitect of  our  commune,  prepare  the  model  or  plan  for 
the  rebuilding  of  Santa  Reparata  with  such  supreme 
and  lavish  magnificence  that  neither  the  industry  nor 
the  capacity  of  man  shall  be  able  to  devise  anything 
more  grand  or  more  beautiful;  inasmuch  as  the  most 
judicious  in  this  city  have  declared  and  advised  in  pub- 
lic and  private  conferences  that  no  work  of  the  com- 
mune should  be  undertaken  unless  the  design  be  to 
make  it  correspondent  with  a  heart  which  is  of  the 
greatest  nature,  because  composed  of  the  spirit  of  many 
citizens  concordant  in  one  single  will."4 

Although  the  words  of  this  'decree  cannot  be  trusted, 
there  is  evidence  that  the  Florentines  soon  gave  up  the 
thought  of  repairing  the  old  church,  and  resolved  to  re- 
construct and  enlarge  it,  so  as  to  have  a  Duomo  of  size 
capable  of  accommodating  the  increasing  crowds  of 
worshippers,  and  in  its  design  worthy  of  the  wealth  and 
spirit  of  the  city.  To  such  a  work  the  Florentines  were 
especially  called  as  the  head  of  the  Guelf  party,  a  party 

an  important  supplement  to  his  admirable,  more  widely  known  work 
Die  Cultur  der  Renaissance  in  Italien,  has  collected  many  instances  of 
this  disposition  ;  see,  especially,  Buch  I.  Kap.  I.  §  2. 

*  This  decree  was  first  published  by  Del  Migliore,  in  his  Fzrenze, 
Citta  Nobilissima,  1684,  p. 6.  He  does  not  say  whence  he  derived  it; 
and  no  such  decree  exists  in  the  archives  of  the  state.  The  style  is 
too  rhetorical  for  the  thirteenth  century. 


FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

that  claimed  to  be  in  a  peculiar  sense  the  support  of 
the  interests  and  authority  of  the  church,  while  they 
were  also  stimulated  to  it  by  the  spirit  of  rivalry  in  arts 
no  less  than  in  arms  that  burned  deep  in  the  hearts  of 
citizens  of  neighboring  states  contending  for  pre-emi- 
nence. Florence  could  not  easily  brook  that  Pisa,  Si- 
ena, and  Orvieto,  inferior  to  herself  in  numbers,  wealth, 
and  power,  should  each  boast  a  cathedral  far  more 
spacious,  more  costly,  and  more  beautiful  than  the  old 
church  that  had  long  served  her  needs. 

"And  so,"  says  the  trustworthy  Giovanni  Villani, 
who  was  a  youth  in  Florence  when  the  work  was  be- 
gun, "in  the  year  1294,  the  city  of  Florence  being  in  a 
state  of  tranquillity,  the  citizens  agreed  to  rebuild  the 
chief  church  of  Florence,  which  was  very  rude  in  form 
and  small  in  proportion  to  such  a  city,  and  they  or- 
dered that  it  should  be  enlarged,  and  extended  at  the 
back,  and  that  it  should  be  all  made  of  marble,  and 
with  carven  figures.  And  the  foundation  was  laid  with 
great  solemnity,  by  the  Cardinal  Legate  of  the  Pope, 
on  the  day  of  St.  Mary  in  September,*  and  many  Bish- 
ops, and  the  Podesta  and  the  Captain,  and  all  the 
Priors,  and  all  the  ranks  of  the  Signory  of  Florence 
were  present,  and  it  was  consecrated  to  the  honor  of 
God  and  St.  Mary,  under  the  name  of  St.  Mary  of  the 
Flower,f  although  the  original  name  of  Santa  Reparata 

*  The  8th  of  September,  the  day  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

t  The  Blessed  Virgin  of  the  Flower — the  lily,  alike  the  flower  of  Mary 
and  of  Florence,  named  for  its  flowers.  The  lily  of  Florence  is  the 
fleur-de-lys,  while  the  flower  of  the  Virgin  is  the  true  white  lily ;  but 


'MEASURES  TO  PROVIDE  MEANS  FOR  BUILDING. 

was  never  changed  by  the  common  people.*  And  for 
the  building  and  work  of  the  said  church  a  tax  was  or- 
dered by  the  commune  of  two  denari  upon  every  lira 
paid  out  of  the  public  treasury,  and  a  poll  tax  of  two 
soldi.  And  the  legate  and  the  bishops  bestowed  great 
indulgences  and  pardons,  to  be  gained  by  every  one 
who  should  contribute  aid  or  alms  to  the  work."f 

The  work  was  indeed  the  common  interest  of  all 
Florentines,  and  the  supply  of  means  for  it  their  com- 
mon duty.  The  decree  establishing  the  poll  tax  to 
which  Villani  refers  was  made  in  December,  1296,  un- 
der the  title  of  "  Super  impositione  pro  opere  ecclesias 
See.  Reparatce  facienda."  It  provides,  not,  as  Villani 
states,  for  a  uniform  poll  tax,  but  for  a  tax  graduated 
according  to  the  property  and  family  of  the  citizen. 
It  was  still  further  ordered  that  every  person  making 
a  written  will  should  bequeath  a  certain  sum  to  the 
work;  the  notary  employed  to  draw  the  will  was  re- 

the  two  were  associated  in  their  symbolic  attributes  in  the  fancy  of  the 
Florentines.  When,  in  their  flourishing  state,  they  laid  the  foundations 
of  their  great  church,  they  might  read  the  words  of  Ecclesiasticus  as  if 
addressed  to  themselves :  "  Florete  flores  quasi  lilium  et  date  odorem, 
et  frondete  in  gratiam,  et  collaudate  canticum  et  benedicite  Dominum 
in  operibus  suis." 

*  The  old  name  was  long  retained.  It  was  not  till  1412  that  the  new 
was  substituted  for  it  by  a  vote  of  the  "  Signori  e  Collegi." 

t  Giovanni  Villani,  Crontca,  lib.  viii.  c.  ix.  Villani's  dates  are  not  al- 
ways to  be  trusted,  even  when  he  gives  account  of  contemporary  events. 
An  old  inscription  in  the  wall  of  the  church,  itself  of  uncertain  date, 
may  be  read  in  two  ways,  so  as  to  give  either  1296  or  1298  as  the  year 
of  the  consecration  of  the  corner-stone  by  the  legate.  The  most  trust- 
worthy Florentine  antiquaries  conclude  from  various  evidence  that  the 
ceremony  took  place  in  1296. 


jn2       FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER, 

quired  to  remind  the  testator  of  this  obligation,  and  in 
case  of  non-compliance  with  it  the  heirs  were  bound  to 
make  good  the  omission.  For  the  gathering-in  of  these 
sums  the  bishop  was  empowered  to  employ  two  or 
more  of  the  clergy,  without  salary,  in  each  district  of 
the  Florentine  territory.  And,  in  order  to  quicken  the 
liberality  of  testators,  special  indulgences  were  to  at- 
tach to  bequests  for  the  building,  over  and  above  "  the 
graces  already  conceded  to  the  benefactors  of  the 
work."  * 

The  architect  of  the  commune  at  this  time  was  Ar- 
nolfo,  the  son  of  Cambio :  a  great  artist  of  whose  life 
little  is  recorded,  but  whose  works  at  Florence  are  his 
sufficient  memorial.!  He  was  busy  with  the  construc- 
tion of  Santa  Croce  when  he  was  called  upon  to  take 
charge  of  the  work  on  the  Duomo.  The  old  church 
of  Santa  Reparata  had  been  constructed  in  that  beau- 
tiful style  of  which  the  Church  of  San  Miniato  was  till 
lately  an  exquisite  example.  Though  this  was  a  thor- 
oughly national  and  vigorous  style,  it  was  now  giving 
way  before  the  foreign  and  intrusive  modes  of  Gothic 
art.  Arnolfo  inherited  from  Niccola  Pisano  the  love 


*  Gaye,  Carteggto,  i.  431. 

t  Vasari's  life  of  Arnolfo  di  Lapo,  as  he  miscalls  him,  is  full  of  errors. 
He  was  born  near  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  the  little 
town  of  Colle  in  the  Val  d'  Elsa.  It  has  been  suggested,  not  without 
reason,  that  he  was  the  Arnolfo,  the  pupil  of  Niccola  Pisano,  who  was 
employed  by  his  master  on  the  pulpit  for  the  Duomo  of  Siena.  (See 
ante,  p.  121.)  The  impulse  to  the  progress  of  the  arts  given  by  the 
genius  of  Niccola  would  thus  have  been  transmitted  through  a  genius 
hardly  inferior  to  his  own. 


ARNOLFO  DI  CAMBIO. 

of  Gothic  forms,  and  he  had  shown  his  preference  for 
them  in  the  design  of  Santa  Croce.  His  work  was 
doubtless  approved  by  the  popular  taste.  Such  Gothic 
facades  as  those  of  Siena  and  Orvieto  were  indeed  far 
more  brilliant  and  striking,  far  more  impressive  to  the 
uneducated  taste,  than  the  simple  design  and  exquisite 
incrustation  of  San  Miniato  or  Santa  Reparata.  The 
new  style  suited  the  new  age,  and  Arnolfo  undertook 
to  rebuild  Santa  Reparata  into  a  church  in  which  the 
pointed  should  take  the  place  of  the  round  arch,  the 
stone  vaulted  roof  should  be  substituted  for  the  flat 
timber  ceiling,  and  the  facade  should  form  a  splendid 
screen  adorned  with  gable  and  pinnacle,  rich  with  carv- 
ing, glowing  with  mosaics,  and  shining  with  gold. 

The  deserts  of  Arnolfo  were  recognized  by  Florence, 
and  in  1300,  when  the  work  on  the  Duomo  was  in 
active  progress,  a  decree  was  passed  which  exhibits 
the  mode  taken  by  the  commune  for  his  recompense. 
"  Considering,"  says  the  decree,  "  that  Master  Arnol- 
phus  is  the  chief  master  of  the  labor  and  work  of  the 
Church  of  the  Blessed  Reparata,  the  principal  church 
of  Florence,  and  that  he  is  a  more  famous  master  and 
more  expert  in  the  building  of  churches  than  any  one 
else  in  neighboring  parts,  and  that  through  his  indus- 
try, skill,  and  wit  the  commune  and  people  of  Florence, 
judging  from  the  magnificent  and  visible  beginning  of 
the  said  work  of  the  aforesaid  church,  hope  to  have  a 
more  beautiful  and  honorable  temple  than  any  other  in 
the  region  of  Tuscany,"  therefore  "  the  Priors  of  the 

13 


1 94      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

Arts,  and  the  standard-bearer  of  Justice,  wishing  to  do 
honor  to  the  person  of  this  master,"  after  deliberation 
and  a  vote  by  ballot,  "  have  resolved  and  established 
that  the  aforesaid  Master  Arnolphus,  so  long  as  he 
shall  live,  shall  be  totally  exempt  and  free  from  every 
tax  and  cess  of  the  commune  of  Florence."* 

This  decree  is  dated  April  i,  1300.  The  most  sig- 
nificant date  in  the  history  of  Florence  lies  within  a 
week  of  this  day,  the  date  of  Dante's  journey  through 
the  three  spiritual  realms.!  A  little  more  than  two 
months  afterwards,  on  the  i5th  of  June,  Dante  entered 
on  his  office  as  one  of  the  priors  of  the  city;  and  in 
that  priorate,  he  himself  declared,  all  the  ills  and  ca«- 
lamities  of  his  after-years  had  their  occasion  and  be- 
ginning.J 

The  year  1300  was  in  truth  a  disastrous  year  for 
Florence.  The  old  party  passions,  quenched  for  a  time, 
but  not  extinguished,  blazed  up  with  new  fury,  and 
wrapped  the  whole  city  in  smoke  and  flame.  The  story 
of  this  wretched  time  has  been  often  written.  The  city 
had  never  been  so  prosperous  and  so  happy,  says  Vil- 
lani,  but  this  year  was  the  beginning  of  its  ruin.  Bitter 

*  Gaye,  Carteggio,  i-445- 

t  Whether  this  journey  began  on  the  supposed  actual  day  of  the 
death  of  Christ,  the  25th  of  March,  or  on  Good  Friday  of  1300,  the  8th 
of  April,  or  on  the  Jewish  Passover,  the  5th  of  April  of  the  same  year, 
is  doubtful  and  unimportant.  See  the  note  of  Philalethes,  Inferno, 
canto  xxi.  v.  1 14. 

\  "  Tutti  li  mali,  e  tutti  gl'  inconvenienti  miei  dagl'  infausti  comizii 
del  mio  priorato  ebbero  cagione  e  principio."  (Letter  cited  by  Leonar- 
do Bruni  Aretino  in  his  Vita  di  Dante,  Firenze,  1672,  p.  16.) 


CIVIC  DISCORD  AND  MISERY. 

and  destructive  as  had  been  the  quarrels  of  former 
generations,  they  had  brought  less  calamity  to  the  city 
than  those  which  now  made  of  its  people  its  own 
worst  enemies.  The  people  seemed  to  have  gone  mad. 
Things  went  from  bad  to  worse.  Dino  Compagni, 
who  witnessed  and  had  share  in  the  events  of  the 
period,  has  described  them  in  his  brief  chronicle  with 
the  moving  eloquence  of  an  upright,  clear-minded  man, 
saddened  by  the  misery  he  had  witnessed  and  been 
unable  to  prevent*  "In  these  deeds  of  ill,"  he  says, 
"  many  became  great  who  before  had  had  no  name," 
many  citizens  were  driven  into  exile,  many  houses 
ruined.  No  one  was  safe ;  neither  relationship  nor 
friendship  availed  aught  Friends  became  enemies, 
brothers  deserted  each  other,  the  son  fell  away  from 
the  father;  all  love  and  humanity  were  extinct;  great 
riches  were  wasted ;  trust,  pity,  pardon,  were  in  no  one 
to  be  found.  Who  cried  loudest  Let  the  traitors  die ! 
he  was  the  greatest  Many  a  palace  was  burned  and 
sacked  within  the  city;  many  a  village  burned  and 
many  a  field  wasted  in  the  territory  that  lay  round 
about  Falsehood,  perjury,  robbery,  murder,  and  all 

*  Within  late  years  the  authenticity  of  the  Chronicle  of  Dino  Com- 
pagni has  been  vigorously  impugned  by  both  German  and  Italian  crit- 
ics. It  is  a  work  which,  if  genuine,  is  of  such  extraordinary  interest, 
and  which  in  style  of  narration  and  quality  of  character  holds  so  ex- 
ceptional a  place,  that  to  have  to  regard  it  as  a  forgery  of  a  later 
century  would  be  matter  for  serious  regret.  The  question  is  not  yet 
authoritatively  settled.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  chronicle  as 
we  now  have  it  is  in  great  part  genuine,  but  that  it  was  worked  over, 
added  to,  and  its  integrity  impaired  by  an  anonymous  writer  of  a  com- 
paratively late  period. 


196     FLORENCE,  AND   ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

crimes  of  violence  and  treachery  made  every  man 
afraid.  "  Rise  up,  ye  evil  citizens,"  exclaims  the  chron- 
icler ;  "  take  fire  and  flame  in  your  hands,  and  spread 
wide  your  wicked  deeds.  Go,  bring  to  ruin  the  beauty 
of  your  city.  Shed  the  blood  of  your  brothers;  strip 
yourselves  bare  of  faith  and  love,  refuse  aid  and  ser- 
vice one  to  another.  Scatter  the  seed  of  lies  till  they 
shall  fill  the  granaries  of  your  children.  But  do  ye 
believe  that  the  justice  of  God  has  failed  ?  Even 
that  of  this  world  rendereth  one  for  one.  Delay  not, 
ye  wretches.  One  day  of  war  consumeth  more  than 
many  years  of  peace  can  gain,  and  there  needs  but 
a  little  spark  to  bring  a  great  city  to  destruction."* 

On  the  4th  of  November,  1301,  the  feeble,  cruel,  and 
treacherous  Charles  of  Valois,  commissioned  by  Pope 
Boniface  VIII.  to  restore  peace  to  the  city,  entered 
Florence.  His  doings  served  but  to  make  things  worse, 
and  to  gain  for  him  there,  says  Dante, "  sin  and  shame."  t 
But,  in  the  stress  of  storm  and  confusion,  the  order  of 
civil  life  was  not  wholly  broken  up.  Though  troubles 
come  and  endure,  yet  must  men  eat,  drink,  and  labor. 
Morning  and  evening,  summer  and  winter,  recur  in 
their  order,  with  their  appointed  tasks  and  their  famil- 
iar gifts.  The  nature  and  the  desires  of  men  undergo 
no  sudden  change ;  old  interests  remain  alive  to  strug- 

*  "  Piu  si  consuma  in  uno  di  nella  guerra,  che  molt'  anni  non  si  gua- 
dagni  in  pace."    Cronica,  lib.  ii. 
t  Purgatorio,  xx.  76 : 

"  Quindi  non  terra,  ma  peccato  ed  onta 
Guadagnera." 


EVENTS  OF  fjoi  AND  1302.  197 

gle  with  new  passions.  All  parties  in  the  strifes  of 
those  dark  days,  however  otherwise  they  might  be  di- 
vided, were  united  at  least  in  common  faith  in  the  doc- 
trines of  that  religion  of  which  the  visible  Church  was 
the  minister ;  and  thus,  on  the  24th  of  November,  twen- 
ty days  after  the  entry  of  Charles  of  Valois  —  nick- 
named Carlo  Senzaterra,  Charles  Lackland — when  he 
was  extorting  money  from  the  rich  by  treachery  and 
threats,  and  amusing  himself  with  the  sight  of  palaces 
ablaze,  and  while  the  government  of  the  city  was  pow- 
erless to  prevent  or  redress  the  wrongs  hourly  commit- 
ted, the  signory,  still  mindful  of  the  work  the  commune 
had  undertaken  for  its  glory,  voted  the  large  subsidy 
for  the  fabric  of  the  Duomo  of  eight  thousand  lire  for 
two  years.* 

Two  months  later,  on  the  27th  of  January,  1302, 
Cante  dei  Gabrielli,  Podesta  of  Florence,  a  tool  in  the 
hands  of  the  ruling  faction,  condemned  Dante,  on  the 
ground/of  malversation  during  his  term  of  office  as  one 
of  the  priors,  to  a  fine  of  five  thousand  florins.  Dante 
\vas  absent  from  Florence  as  one  of  her  envoys  to  Bon- 
iface VIII.  in  Rome,  but  his  sentence  ran  that  unless 
the  fine  were  paid  within  three  days  all  his  possessions 
should  be  laid  waste,  and  then  be  confiscated  to  the 
benefit  of  the  commune:  "omnia  bona  talis  non  sol- 


*  Gaye,  Carteggio,  i.  447.  Dino  Compagni  describes  the  events  of 
this  time  with  vigorous  and  picturesque  strokes :  "  Quando  una  casa 
ardea  forte,  messer  Carlo  domandava, '  Che  fuoco  e  quello  ?'  eragli  ri- 
sposto  che  era  una  capanna,  quando  era  uno  ricco  palazzo." 


198      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

ventis  publicentur,  vastentur,  et  destruantur,  et  vastate 
et  destructa  remaneant  in  communi."  Building  with 
one  hand,  destroying  with  the  other,  was  the  rule. 
Should  the  fine  be  paid  within  the  allotted  time,  still 
Dante  was  to  remain  for  two  years  in  banishment.  On 
the  loth  of  March  he  was  proclaimed  as  in  contumacy 
to  the  State,  and  condemned,  should  he  ever  fall  into 
the  power  of  the  commune,  to  be  burned  to  death: 
"  igne  comburatur  sic  quod  moriatur."  * 

The  answer  of  Dante  to  this  sentence  is  in  the  words 
with  which  he  begins  one  of  the  latest  cantos  of  the 
Divine  Comedy: 

"  If  e'er  it  happen  that  the  Poem  Sacred, 

To  which  both  Heaven  and  earth  have  set  their  hand, 

So  that  it  many  a  year  hath  made  me  lean, 
O'ercome  the  cruelty  that  bars  me  out 

From  the  fair  sheepfold  where  a  lamb  I  slumbered, 

An  enemy  to  the  wolves  that  war  upon  it, 
With  other  voice  forthwith,  with  other  fleece, 

Poet  will  I  return,  and  at  my  font 

Baptismal  will  I  take  the  laurel  crown." 

But  he  was  never  again  to  pass  the  sacred  threshold 
of  his  beautiful  St.  John,  nor  again  to  see  the  rising 
walls  of  the  cathedral,  to  which  popular  tradition  has 
attached  the  memory  of  his  interest,  still  pointing  out 
the  spot  whence  he  was  wont  to  watch  the  laying  of 
their  deep  foundations  and  the  lifting  of  their  massive 
stones. 

*  The  text  of  the  decrees  against  Dante  may  be  found  in  Fraticelli, 
Storia  delict  Vita  dt  Dante  AUghieri,  Firenze,  1861,  pp.  147  seq.  The 
originals  may  still  be  seen  'in  the  Florentine  archives. 


BUILDINGS  OF  ARNOLFO. 

The  records  of  the  work  during  the  next  few  years 
are  scanty.  In  1310  Arnolfo  died,  and,  irreparable  as 
was  the  loss  of  such  genius  as  his,  he  had  yet  lived 
long  enough  to  leave  the  building  so  far  advanced  that 
his  successors  in  office  would  find  little  difficulty  in 
continuing  the  main  parts  of  the  construction  accord- 
ing to  his  design.  During  his  many  years  of  service 
as  architect  of  the  commune,  Arnolfo  had  set  his  stamp 
ineffaceably  upon  the  aspect  of  the  city,  giving  to  it 
many  of  the  most  striking  features  by  which  it  is  still 
adorned.  The  Palace  of  the  Sighory  (the  old  palace, 
as  it  is  called),  the  Palace  of  the  Bargello,  each  with 
its  aspiring  belfry,  now  surmounting  all  other  towers 
of  the  city  ;  the  vast  pile  of  Santa  Croce,  the  still  vaster 
pile  of  the  Duomo — of  all  of  which  the  first  design,  and 
in  great  part  the  construction,  were  his — remain  unsur- 
passed by  later  buildings,  with  a  single  exception ;  and, 
in  the  midst  of  more  modern  edifices  preserving  their 
ancient  character,  they  give  proof  of  the  marvellous  en- 
ergy of  the  republic,  and  the  not  less  marvellous  gifts 
of  the  artist  by  whom  she  was  served.  Arnolfo  had 
also  overseen  the  beginnings  of  the  great  new  circuit 
of  turreted  and  battlemented  wall  that  was  to  enclose 
and  defend  the  city,  and  which  stood  as  a  picturesque 
and  impressive  memorial  of  the  conditions  of  mediaeval 
life  till,  but  a  few  years  ago,  it  was  swept  away  to  give 
place  to  what  are  called  modern  improvements. 

Recent  generations  have  so  relentlessly  waged  war 
against  the  picturesqueness  of  mediaeval  cities  that  it  is 


200     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

difficult  for  the  fancy  to  reproduce  the  full  effect  of  the 
aspect  of  Florence  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  In  every  street  rose  stronghold  palaces,  built 
for  the  needs  of  war  as  well  as  of  peace,  flanked  by 
lofty  towers,  the  shape  of  whose  battlements  gave  sign 
to  which  of  the  great  parties,  Guelf  or  Ghibelline,  their 
possessors  owed  allegiance.*  The  number  of  the  tow- 
ers of  Florence  was  to  be  reckoned  by  hundreds.  The 
Florentine  masons  had  inherited  the  old  Roman  art  of 
solid  building.  They  knew  how  to  lay  stones  so  that 
they  should  lie  as  firm  in  wall  or  buttress  as  they  had 
lain  in  their  native  beds.f.  Adjoining  the  palaces  of 
the  chief  families  was  a  loggia,  or  covered  portico  or 
arcade,  where  the  rich  and  noble  were  wont  to  cele- 
brate those  ceremonies  in  which  the  common  people — 
the  popolo  minuto — had  a  share  of  interest,  or  at  which 

*  The  merlons  of  the  Guelf  battlements  were  square,  those  of  the 
Ghibelline  were  "  a  coda  di  rondine,"  that  is,  in  shape  like  the  letter  M. 

t  Palaces  and  towers  were  built  with  a  double  wall  of  cut  stone,  of 
blocks  of  uniform  thickness.  The  space  between  the  sections  of  the 
wall  was  filled  in  with  a  concrete  of  lime  and  pebbles,  by  which  the 
whole  was  bound  together  in  a  solid  mass.  The  towers  were  usually 
square ;  few  were  less  than  one  hundred  feet,  many  were  more  than  two 
hundred  feet,  in  height.  They  were  entered  by  a  small  door  opening 
directly  upon  the  narrow  staircase  which  filled  their  whole  interior 
space.  Here  and  there  a  passage  in  the  wall  led  to  a  loop-hole,  or  to 
a  door  by  which  the  defenders  of  the  tower,  if  assailed,  might  pass  out 
at  a  safe  height  on  to  a  movable  platform  supported  by  brackets  of 
stone,  many  of  which  may  even  now  be  seen  in  the  truncated  remains 
of  these  old  monuments  of  the  fights  and  feuds  of  those  passionate 
days  'that  were  the  discipline  of  Florentine  character  and  the  training 
of  her  art.  See  Passerini's  note  in  Ademollo's  Marietta  de  Ricci, 
Firenze,  1845,  vol.  ii.  p.  735.  The  notes  to  this  elaborate  historical 
romance  in  six  volumes  octavo,  contain  an  immense  amount  of  infor- 
mation concerning  Florence  not  easily  found  elsewhere. 


WALL   OF  THE  CITY.  2OI 

their  presence  as  witnesses  was  desirable.  Here  mar- 
riage contracts  were  signed,  here  festivals  for  public 
honors  were  held,  and  here  victories  over  domestic  or 
foreign  enemies  were  celebrated  with  feasts  and  rejoic- 
ings. Tower  and  loggia  were  the  signs  of  dignity,  pow- 
er, and  wealth,  and  were  objects  of  special  pride  and 
jealous  care  to  the  members  and  retainers  of  the  house 
to  whose  greatness  they  bore  testimony.  The  gates  of 
the  city,  new-built  by  Arnolfo,  were  so  many  fortresses ; 
and  the  strong  wall  now  extending  its  defence  around 
the  town  was  furnished,  "  for  beauty  as  well  as  for 
strength,"  with  towers,  at  a  distance  of  less  than  four 
hundred  feet  one  from  another,  no  one  of  them  less 
than  twenty-five  feet  square  or  than  seventy-five  feet 
in  height,  and  many  much  larger  and  higher.  "  And 
in  order,"  says  Giovanni  Villani,  "  that  the  memory  of 
the  greatness  of  this  city  may  last  forever,  and  for  the 
sake  of  those  people  who  have  not  been  at  Florence 
and  may  see  this  chronicle,  we  will  describe  in  order 
the  construction  of  this  wall,  and  the  measures  of  it  as 
they  were  diligently  measured  at  our  instance,  we,  the 
writer,  being  the  officer  of  the  commune  to  superin- 
tend the  walls."  *  From  the  account  he  gives,  it  would 
seem  that  there  must  have  been  more  than  two  hun- 
dred of  these  towers  on  the  circuit  of  the  walls.  The 
walls  themselves  were  nearly  forty  feet  in  height  and 
more  than  six  feet  in  thickness ;  and  their  construc- 
tion, begun  in  1284  and  completed,  in  spite  of  many 

*  Cronica,  lib.  ix.  capp.  cclvi.  cclvii. 


202      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

periods  of  interruption  in  their  progress,  in  1327,  is  one 
of  the  many  proofs  of  the  vigor  and  riches  of  the  city 
at  this  time.  For  two  hundred  years  the  towers  kept 
watch  and  ward  around  Florence ;  but  in  the  days  of 
her  decline  and  misery,  when  Pope  Clement  VII.  was 
her  master,  they  were  thrown  down,  that  the  city  might 
be  put  in  order  of  defence  against  the  artillery  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  V.  "  Within  these  walls,"  says  Vil- 
lani,  writing  in  1324,  "there  are,  what  with  cathedral 
and  abbeys  and  monasteries  and  other  chapels,  at  least 
a  hundred  churches,  and  close  by  every  door  there  is 
a  church,  a  convent,  or  a  hospital.  And  now  we  will 
leave  the  description  of  the  city  of  Florence,  for  we 
have  said  enough  of  it,  and  will  return  to  our  subject." 
It  is  probable  that  even  before  Arnolfo's  death,  in 
1310,  the  means  for  the  building  of  the  Duomo  had 
fallen  off,  owing  to  the  confusions  and  disasters  of  the 
first  years  of  the  century.  Besides  the  usual  calami- 
ties and  destructions  of  civic  warfare,  Florence  had  suf- 
fered in  1304  from  a  conflagration  more  terrible  and 
wasteful  than  she  had  ever  before  experienced.  In  the 
heat  of  a  most  embittered  fight  between  the  factions 
that  divided  the  State,  one  of  the  partisans,  a  priest, 
Neri  Abati  by  name,  a  man  of  lewd  and  dissolute  life, 
set  fire  to  two  houses  near  the  Mercato  Vecchio,  the 
most  crowded  part  of  the  city.  A  high  wind  was  blow- 
ing from  the  north ;  the  flames  soon  got  beyond  control, 
and,  spreading  fast,  wrapped  possessions  and  palaces  of 
both  parties  in  common  destruction.  "  In  fine,"  says 


TROUBLES  IN  FLORENCE.          203 

Villani,  with  pathetic  simplicity,  "  the  fire  burned  all 
the  marrow  and  core  and  dear  places  of  the  city  of 
Florence,  and  the  number  of  them,  between  palaces, 
towers,  and  houses,  was  seventeen  hundred.  The  loss 
of  furniture,  treasure,  and  merchandise  was  infinite,  for 
in  those  places  were  almost  all  the  merchandise  and 
precious  things  of  Florence;  and  that  which  was  not 
burned  was  carried  off  by  thieves,  for  the  fighting  was 
still  going  on  through  the  city ;  so  that  many  trading 
companies  and  many  families  were  stripped  and  made 
poor  by  the  burning  and  the  robbery.  This  calamity 
happened  to  our  city  on  the  icth  of  June." 

Though  the  fire  had  destroyed  the  core  of  the  city, 
it  had  not  killed  the  worm  that  had  so  long  been  gnaw- 
ing at  it.  The  flames  were  but  the  type  of  the  more 
malignant  fires  of  rancorous  jealousy  and  hate,  of  party 
and  personal  passion,  which  wasted  the  energies  and 
consumed  the  strength  of  great  and  small,  of  noble  and 
workman  alike.  Civil  anarchy  was  followed  by  war 
abroad,  wrar  abroad  by  new  domestic  discords.  There 
was  little  spirit  for  works  that  the  needs  of  the  time 
did  not  immediately  require.  Private  fortunes  demand- 
ed repair.  A  new  generation  had  arisen  since  the  ca- 
thedral was  begun — a  generation  with  less  zeal  for  its 
construction  than  that  by  which  it  had  been  under- 
taken; and  after  the  death  of  Arnolfo  the  work  came 
almost  to  a  stop.  At  length,  in  1318,  through  the  wise 
efforts  of  a  stranger,  Count  Guido  di  Battifolle,  vicar  of 
King  Robert  the  Good  of  Naples,  a  new  and  better 


FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

order  was  established  both  in  public  and  in  private  af- 
fairs. Quiet  was  restored  to  the  city,  and  prosperity 
began  to  return  with  peace.  Old  quarrels  were  made 
up,  old  enmities  appeased.  Works  of  improvement 
were  taken  in  hand,  and  the  cathedral  was  no  longer 
neglected.  A  decree  was  passed  assigning  for  the  term 
of  five  years  a  fifth  of  all  sums  paid  to  the  chamberlain 
of  the  commune,  for  the  benefit  of  the  fabric  of  the  Du- 
omo,  which,  in  the  words  of  the  decree,  "  had  for  some 
time  past  made  slow  progress,  nay,  had  been  almost 
given  up  through  want  of  money."  * 

This  new  supply  of  funds,  and  such  other  supplies 
as  the  piety  of  the  people  may  have  ministered,  at  once 
produced  great  activity.  The  superintendents  of  the 
works  (pffitiales  presidentes)  presented  a  petition  to  the 
signory,  stating  that  a  large  quantity  of  marble  had 
been  bought  by  them  at  Carrara,  that  they  had  in- 
creased the  number  of  master  workmen  on  the  build- 
ing ("  ut  in  eodem  opere  plus  solito  laborent "),  and 
praying  that  the  commune  would,  according  to  its  wont 
("  more  solito  "),  "  extend  the  helping  hand,"  and  would 
assign  one  third  of  the  revenues  of  the  "  office  of  the 
sin  of  heresy  "  in  aid  of  the  work.f  The  petition  was 
granted. 

After  this  sign  of  life  and  activity,  there  is  again  a 

*  "Quae  a  tempore  citra  lente  processit,  immo  quasi  derelicta  est 
propter  defectum  pecuniae."  Gaye,  Carteggio,  i.  452. 

t  The  revenues  of  "  the  office  of  the  sin  of  heresy  "  were  probably 
derived  from  fines  and  confiscations  of  the  property  of  condemned 
heretics.  The  petition  is  in  Gaye,  Carteggio,  i.  455. 


CASTRUCCIO  CASTRACANI.  205 

wide  gap  in  the  records  of  the  Duomo.  In  1320 
began  the  most  disastrous  war  in  which  Florence  was 
ever  engaged.  Her  enemy  was  Castruccio  Castracani, 
Lord  of  Lucca,  who  by  his  energy  and  extraordinary 
ability  had  raised  himself  to  the  head  of  the  Ghibelline 
party  in  Tuscany,  and  from  this  time  till  his  death, 
in  1328,  waged  unremitting  and  relentless  war  against 
Florence  and  her  Guelf  allies.  A  soldier  trained  by 
years  of  service  in  France,  England,  and  Lombardy, 
embittered  against  his  enemies  by  experience  of  ex- 
ile and  wrong  at  their  hands ;  a  man  of  popular  arts, 
but  of  stern  temper,  strict  in  his  sense  of  his  own  and 
others'  rights,*  full  of  resource,  acquainted  with  men, 
and  knowing  how  to  rule  them,  of  large  ambition  and 
of  steady  mind — he  succeeded,  during  his  long  strug- 
gle with  Florence,  notwithstanding  her  superior  re- 
sources of  wealth  and  of  men,  in  defeating  her  armies, 
in  wasting  her  territory,  and  in  subjecting  her  to  the 
bitterest  humiliations.! 

The  war  told  with  disastrous  effect  on  the  trade  and 
the  prosperity  of  the  city.  Her  merchants  became  un- 
able to  fulfil  their  agreements,  and  in  the  summer  of 
1326  there  were  many  commercial  failures,  the  chief 
among  them  being  that  of  the  great  banking-house  of 
the  Scali  and  Amieri  and  the  brothers  Petri,  wrhich 
claimed  an  existence  of  more  than  one  hundred  and 

*  "  Homo  probissimus  et  legalis  ultra  quam  dici  possit."  Chron.  Re- 
giense.  Muratori,  Rer.  Ital.  Script,  torn,  xviii.  col.  40. 

t  "  Et  tune  (1325)  Castrucius  equitavit  super  districtu  Florentiae  ad 
sui  libitum  depraedando,  et  comburendo  omnia."  Id.  col.  36. 


206     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

twenty  years,  and  which  was  indebted  to  domestic  and 
foreign  creditors  for  the  enormous  sum  of  more  than 
four  hundred  thousand  florins — an  amount  to  be  meas- 
ured by  the  fact  that  it  was  not  far  from  that  of  the  or- 
dinary revenue  of  the  State  for  two  years  and  a  half. 
It  was  a  terrible  blow  to  Florence ;  for,  says  Villani, 
"  every  man  who  had  money  lost  with  them,  and  many 
other  good  companies  in  Florence  were  held  in  sus- 
picion, on  account  of  this  failure,  to  their  great  harm." 
One  event  that  took  place  in  the  next  year  is  too 
characteristic  of  the  spirit  of  the  times  to  be  left  un- 
mentioned.  This  was  the  burning  as  a  heretic  of  mas- 
ter Cecco  d'  Ascoli,  one  of  the  most  learned  and  en- 
lightened men  of  his  age,  who,  in  spite  of  his  sharing 
in  the  wide-spread  belief  in  the  influence  of  the  stars 
upon  human  fate  and  fortune,  and  his  profession  of 
the  science  of  astrology,  which  he  had  taught  in  the 
university  at  Bologna,  shows  himself  in  his  works  as 
an  original  investigator  of  nature,  and  as  a  man  of, 
elevated  sentiment.  His  poem  entitled  Z'  Acerba  is, 
indeed,  rather  the  work  of  a  student  than  a  poet, 
treating  in  encyclopaedic  fashion  of  the  material  and 
moral  world.  It  was  no  poem  of  vain  imaginings,  such 
as  that  of  Dante — 

"  Qui  non  si  canta  al  modo  del  poeta 
Che  finge  imaginando  cose  vane 

***** 
Le  favole  mi  son  sempre  nemiche." 

He  was  an  old  man — seventy  years  old — when  he  was 


DEATH  OF-  CASTRUCCIO.  2O7 

burned ;  and  there  is  hardly  to  be  found  a  more  strik- 
ing record  of  party  passion  and  of  superstition  than  that 
which,  beginning  with  the  condemnation  of  Dante  to  the 
flames,  ends  with  the  death  by  fire  of  one  of  the  most 
worthy  of  his  contemporaries.  That  Cecco  met  his 
death  manfully  may  be  believed  from  the  testimony  of 
his  own  verse,  in  which  he  says,  "  I  have  had  fear  of 
three  things:  to  be  of  a  poor  and  mendicant  spirit;  to 
do  harm  and  to  give  displeasure  to  others ;  and  through 
my  own  fault  to  lose  a  friend."  * 

The  war  went  on  with  various  fortune,  but  with  lit- 
tle check  of  Castruccio's  rising  power.  In  1328  he  was 
lord  of  Pisa,  Lucca,  and  Pistoia,  and  of  three  hundred 
castles  and  fortified  places ;  he  was  master  of  great 
part  of  the  seaboard  south  of  Genoa,  and  held  rule  over 
wide  territory.  He  was  planning  new  victories  when, 
in  the  summer  of  this  year,  he  fell  ill.  On  the  3d  of 
September  he  died.  Florence  was  safe,  relieved  from 
the  most  dangerous  external  foe  that  ever  threatened 
her,  for  the  fabric  of  Castruccio's  power  was  supported 
by  his  mighty  hand  alone,  and,  that  support  withdrawn, 
it  fell  with  a  crash  to  the  ground.  Throughout  the 
whole  period  of  her  adversity,  Florence  had  been  sus- 
tained by  the  thought,  which  the  historian  Ammirato 
calls  "  the  general  comfort  of  republics,"  that  she  was 
in  a  certain  way  eternal,  not  depending  on  the  life  of 
any  individual,  and  able  to  endure  great  shocks  with- 

*  G.  Villani,  lib.  x.  cap.  xl.     Libri,  Histoire  des  Sciences  Mathtmatiques 
en  Itah'e,\.<om&  ii.  pp.  191-200. 


208     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

out  ruin ;  while  the  power  of  a  prince,  depending  on 
himself  alone,  was  subject  to  the  chance  of  evil  fortune 
and  of  death.*  The  reflection  is  a  just  one  as  drawn 
from  the  experience  of  Italy  in  this  age,  when  tyrant 
after  tyrant  rose  by  force  of  personal  qualities  into 
sudden  power,  which  was  shattered  as  suddenly  by 
his  death. 

Relieved  from  war,  Florence  set  to  work  to  reform 
her  government.  Reverting  to  her  old  democratic  sys- 
tem, changes  of  great  significance  were  introduced  into 
its  forms,  with  the  intent  to  remedy  some  of  the  defects 
that  experience  had  shown  in  it,  and  with  especial  aim 
to  securing  greater  stability  of  administration,  to  ex- 
cluding unfit  persons  from  office,  and  to  establishing 
the  power  of  "  the  party,"  which  was  the  title  now  arro- 
gated by  the  Guelfs.  The  bitter  irony  of  Dante's  re- 
proach f  of  his  fellow-citizens  on  their  frequent  change 
of  laws  was  indeed  deserved,  but  their  fickleness  may 
be  regarded  in  another  light  as  an  indication  of  their 
very  intelligence  and  eager  quest  of  good.  They  were 


*  ScipMone  Ammirato,  Istorie  Florentine,  Firenze,  1 824,  tomo  iii.  lib. 
vii.  p.  8. 

t        "  Athens  and  Lacedsemon,  they  who  made 
The  ancient  laws  and  were  so  civilized, 
Made  towards  living  well  a  little  sign 
Compared  with  thee,  who  makest  such  fine-spun 
Provisions  that  to  middle  of  November 
Reaches  not  what  thou  in  October  spinnest. 
How  oft,  within  the  time  of  thy  remembrance, 
Laws,  money,  offices,  and  usages 
Hast  thou  remodelled,  and  renewed  thy  members  ?" 

Purgatory,  vi.  139-147.    (Longfellow's  Translation.) 


FAMINE  AT- FLORENCE. 

at  the  beginning  of  the  long  series  of  experiments,  not 
yet  near  its  conclusion,  to  determine  the  limits  and  re- 
lations of  law  and  liberty,  the  proper  functions  of  gov- 
ernment, the  rights  of  the  individual  in  society.  The 
Florentines,  forming  the  most  civilized  and  intelligent 
popular  community  in  existence,  were  trying  to  dis- 
cover the  modes  by  which  they  might  secure  the  bless- 
ings of  good  order,  prosperity,  and  strength.  Many  of 
their  attempts  were  childish ;  they  were  impatient, 
they  made  many  mistakes ;  and  as  in  all  republics,  so 
here  were  many  who  preferred  their  personal  interests 
to  those  of  the  State.  The  conflict  between  private 
selfishness  and  the  public  good  was  sharp,  constant, 
and  often  disastrous. 

Though  Castruccio  had  failed  to  become  master  of 
the  city,  he  had  wrought  desolation  around  her ;  and  the 
year  after  his  death  she,  in  common  with  the  greater 
part  of  Tuscany,  suffered  from  a  distressing  famine. 
The  price  of  grain  rose  to  triple  and  quadruple  its 
usual  level.  There  was  great  misery  among  the  poor. 
Perugia,  Siena,  Lucca,  Pistoia,  pitilessly  drove  the  des- 
titute beggars  from  their  gates.  But  Florence,  with 
wise  counsel  and  good  foresight,  "in  piety  towards 
God,"  opened  her  gates  to  all,  and,  sending  at  public 
cost  for  shiploads  of  grain  to  Sicily,  kept  the  market 
supplied  with  it  at  a  low  rate.  But  this  did  not  suffice 
to  relieve  the  suffering,  and  therefore  at  length  the 
commune,  withdrawing  the  grain  from  market,  em- 
ployed all  the  bakeries  to  bake  for  the  public  use,  and 

14 


2io      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

sold  the  bread  every  day  at  a  price  much  below  its 
cost.  "  The  commune  of  Florence,"  said  Villani,  "  lost 
in  these  two  years"  (for  the  famine,  beginning  in  1328, 
lasted  into  the  year  13 30)  "more  than  sixty  thousand 
florins  of  gold  in  the  support  of  the  people."  "  And 
though  I,  the  writer,  was  not  worthy  of  so  great  an  of- 
fice, I  found  myself  officer  of  the  commune,  with  others, 
in  this  bitter  time ;  and,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  were 
inventors  of  this  remedy  and  method  whereby  the  peo- 
ple were  kept  quiet,  and  violence  was  prevented,  and 
the  poor  folk  made  content,  without  scandal  or  uproar. 
And  further  let  this  witness  to  the  truth  that  nowhere 
else  were  such  alms  ministered  to  the  poor,  by  power- 
ful and  compassionate  citizens,  as  during  this  unwont- 
ed famine  were  ministered  by  the  good  Florentines ; 
wherefore  I  firmly  reckon  and  believe  that,  for  the  sake 
of  the  said  alms  and  provision  made  for  the  poor,  God 
has  guarded,  and  will  guard,  our  city  from  great  ad- 
versities." * 

Even  during  the  last  ten  years,  strained  as  the  pub- 
lic resources  had  been,  private  luxury  seems  to  have 
met  with  no  serious  check,  while  the  effeminate  refine- 
ments of  fashion,  le  morbidezze  d?  Egitto,  of  which  Boc- 
caccio complains,  had  increased  to  a  degree  that  in- 
dicates a  decline  in  the  moral  temper  and  ideals  of  the 
people.  The  worst  calamity  attending  a  long-protract- 
ed stress  of  war  in  a  narrow  community  is  the  break- 
ing-up  of  the  orderly  habits  of  society,  while  the  influ- 

*  Cronica,  lib.  x.  cap.  cxviii. 


CHARGE  OF  DUOMO  GIVEN  TO  THE  ART  OF  WOOL.  2  1 1 

ence  of  its  keen  excitements  leads  to  the  adoption  of 
irregular  and  extravagant  modes  of  life. 

The  war  with  Castruccio  had  so  diminished  the 
revenue  of  the  commonwealth  that  some  years  passed 
after  its  close  before  Florence  felt  able  to  go  on  with 
the  long  -  interrupted  work  upon  her  Duomo.  At 
length,  in  1331,  a  year  of  great  abundance  and  prosper- 
ity, the  commune  resolved  to  take  the  building  once 
more  in  hand.  A  portion  of  the  taxes  was  assigned  to 
the  work,  and  the  charge  of  it  was  committed  to  the 
Art  of  Wool ;  *  that  is,  to  the  corporation  of  the  dealers 
in  wool,  the  richest  and  most  powerful  of  the  Arts  of 
Florence.  It  was  no  new  thing  to  intrust  the  super- 
intendence of  a  public  work  to  one  of  the  Arts.  Not 
only  the  building,  but  the  charge  and  maintenance  of 
churches,  hospitals,  and  prisons  were  committed  to 
them,  t  For  the  heads  of  the  Arts — consuls,  rectors, 
or  captains,  as  they  might  be  called — were  men  elect- 
ed by  the  body  of  the  Art  to  manage  its  affairs,  and 
being  chosen  by  those  who  knew  them  well,  might  be 
trusted  as  of  approved  capacity  and  integrity,  trained 
to  business,  and  accustomed  to  the  conduct  of  large 

*  Villani,  Cronica,  lib.  x.  cap.  cxcii.  In  the  decree  making  these  provi- 
sions, the  church  was  spoken  of  as  having  been  begun  "  tarn  formosa 
et  pulcra,  sed  remansit  iam  est  longum  tempus  et  est  absque  hedifica- 
tione  aliqua."  See  Cavalucci,  Cenni  Storici  sulla  Edificazione  della  Cat- 
tedrale  Fiorentina,  Firenze,  1871.  An  ancient  inscription  inserted  in 
the  wall  of  the  Duomo  records  the  intrusting  of  the  work  to  the  Art 
of  Wool. 

t  Ammirato,  Istorie  Florentine,  lib.  iv.  ann.  1293, 1294 ;  Paolini,  Della 
Legitima  Liberia  del  Cotnmercio,  tomo  i.  nota  64 ;  Gaye,  Carteggio,  i.  532, 
12  Jun.  1388. 


212      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

undertakings.  A  natural  spirit  of  emulation  among  the 
Arts  led  them  to  take  pride  in  the  honorable  fulfilment 
of  such  trusts,  and  enlisted  the  personal  interest  of  each 
member  in  the  mode  of  their  discharge.  It  was  an  ad- 
mirable method  for  securing  the  best  public  servants, 
and  for  keeping  them  under  the  constant  supervision 
of  a  vigorous,  sensitive,  and  intelligent  public  opinion. 
Florence  was  the  first  city  of  modern  times  thus  to  take 
advantage  of  the  power  that  resides  in  the  free  but  or- 
ganized opinion  of  a  well-ordered  community. 

It  was  long  since  the  most  precious  building  in  Flor- 
ence, its  ancient  baptistery — Dante's  "  my  beautiful  St. 
John  " — had  been  thus  intrusted  to  the  Art  of  Calima- 
la,  or  foreign  wool  merchants.*  St.  John  Baptist  was 
the  special  patron  of  Christian  Florence ;  the  city  was 
his  sheepfold  ("ovil  di  San  Giovanni"),  and  in  his  church 
all  her  children  gained  entrance  to  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  Cacciaguida  tells  the  story  of  every  Florentine 
when  he  says  to  Dante, 

"  And  in  your  ancient  baptistery,  at  once 
Christian  and  Cacciaguida  I  was  made."t 

*  The  origin  and  etymology  of  the  name  Calimala  are  uncertain. 
The  members  of  this  Art  found  their  gain  in  purchasing  the  rough 
cloths  of  Flanders,  France,  and  England,  and  sending  them  in  bales  to 
Florence,  to  be  sheared,  dyed,  and  finished,  and  thence  exported  to  all 
parts  of  Europe  and  to  many  parts  of  the  East.  The  traffic  was  on 
a  great  scale,  and  for  a  long  period  was  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  the 
commercial  prosperity  of  the  city. 

The  statute  of  this  Art,  as  revised  in  1337,  is  to  be  found  in  the  third 
volume  of  Emiliani-Giudici's  Storia  dei  Comuni  Italiam,  Firenze,  1866 ; 
and  from  it  may  be  gained  exact  knowledge  of  the  modes  of  superin- 
tendence by  the  Art  of  the  public  works  intrusted  to  its  charge. 

t  "  My  whole  history  of  Christian  architecture  and  painting  begins 


STATUTE  OF   THE  ART  OF  CALIMALA.          313 

The  third  book  of  the  statute  of  the  Art  of  Calimala 
begins  with  the  following  rubric :  "  In  the  name  of  God, 
Amen.  To  the  honor  of  the  omnipotent  God,  and  of  his 
Mother,  and  of  the  blessed  messer  St.  John  Baptist,  and 
of  messer  St.  Eusebius,  and  of  messer  St.  Miniatus  (San 
Miniato),  and  the  other  saints  of  Paradise,  here  below 
are  writ  the  rules  that  relate  to  the  work  (opera)*  of 
St.  John,  that  of  San  Miniato  aforesaid,  and  of  the  hos- 
pital or  house  of  St.  James  at  St.  Eusebius's,  ruled  and 
governed  under  the  ancient  and  modern  defence  and 
firm  guardianship  of  the  praiseworthy  Art  and  univer- 
sity of  the  consuls  and  merchants  of  the  Art  of  Cali- 
mala in  the  city  of  Florence."  Following  this  rubric 
come  the  chapters  of  the  statute  concerning  the  chari- 
ties to  which  the  Art  was  held  bound.  Among  others, 
every  Monday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday  morning  the 
vice-operaio  of  St.  John,  who  was  to  be  "  a  good,  dis- 
creet and  trustworthy  layman,  of  sound  body,  of  good 
report  and  condition,  and  of  upright  life,"  was  to  dis- 
tribute in  the  church  twenty  dozen  loaves  of  bread.  In 
addition,  two  good  men,  appointed  for  a  six  months' 
term  of  service,  were  every  week  to  give  alms  to  the 
shamefaced  poor  ("  poveri  vergognosi ")  in  the  shape  of 
grain  sufficient  for  thirty  dozen  loaves.  This  grain  was 

with  this  baptistery  of  Florence,  and  with  its  associated  cathedral,"  says 
Mr.  Ruskin,  in  his  Ariadne  Florentina,  p.  59. 

*  The  "  opera,"  used  to  denote  the  official  board  of  works.  The  chief 
officer  was  the  operarius  or  operajo ;  he  administered  the  funds  of  the 
opera,  was  responsible  for  contracts  made  in  its  name,  and  had  the  gen- 
eral oversight  of  the  execution  of  the  works  undertaken  by  it. 


214     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

to  be  supplied  from  the  funds  of  the  operay  and  the  two 
agents  of  the  Art  were  required  to  give  the  said  alms 
in  company,  after  diligent  inquisition  into  the  condition 
of  the  poor  and  needy  of  the  different  sections  of  the 
city  and  district  of  Florence. 

The  Feast  of  St.  John  Baptist,  on  the  24th  of  June, 
was  the  chief  religious  festival  of  Florence,  and  was 
celebrated  with  special  solemnity  and  splendor.  Every 
year,  fifteen  days  before  the  feast,  proclamation  was 
made  through  the  city  that  all  those  who  in  past  time 
had  been  accustomed  to  make  offering  on  St.  John's 
Day  should  be  ready  with  their  offerings  as  usual.  On 
the  evening  of  the  vigil  of  the  feast  the  whole  city  was 
astir.  The  Podesta  and  the  Captain  of  the  People  with 
their  attendants,  the  consuls,  notaries,  and  chamberlain 
of  the  Art  of  Calimala,  accompanied  by  the  chief  and 
best  men  from  each  warehouse  and  shop  of  the  guild, 
together  with  the  consuls  of  all  the  other  Arts,  went  in 
solemn  procession  to  the  church,  every  man  bearing  a 
candle  of  prescribed  weight  to  be  offered  at  the  altar 
for  the  fabric  and  adornment  of  the  edifice.  The  pro- 
cession, representing  the  dignity  and  wealth  of  the  city, 
was  increased  by  deputations  from  the  villages  and 
towns  of  the  territory  of  the  State,  each  under  its  re- 
spective banner,  and  by  the  nobles,  who  came  from  their 
outlying  castles  and  strongholds,  with  bands  of  retain- 
ers, to  add  their  offerings  to  those  of  the  citizens,  and 
to  manifest  their  devotion  to  the  saint.  Two  merchants 
of  the  Calimala  were  deputed  to  receive  the  offerings, 


SOURCES  OF  INCOME  OF  THE  OPERA.     2Ic 

to  keep  a  list  of  the  places  represented  and  the  persons 
present  at  the  altar,  and,  in  case  of  the  absence  of  any 
of  those  accustomed  to  make  offering,  to  take  measures 
that  the  default  should  afterwards  be  made  good.  (Arts, 
v.  x.  xxvii.)  The  offering  was  regarded  as  a  debt,  and 
the  whole  transaction  was  conducted  on  a  basis  of  es- 
tablished rules.  It  was  provided,  moreover,  by  the 
statute  of  the  commune  that  a  portion  of  the  salaries 
of  the  Podesta  and  the  Captain  of  the  People  should  be 
annually  set  aside  for  the  work.  Another  source  of  in- 
come, however  small,  arose  from  the  custom  of  release 
by  the  commune  of  a  certain  number  of  criminals  an- 
nually on  St.  John's  Day,  who  were  presented  at  the 
altar  of  his  church,  their  pardon  being  thus  granted  not 
only  as  an  act  of  mercy  pleasing  to  the  saint,  but  also 
as  involving  a  pledge  on  their  part  thenceforth  to  live 
without  offence,  for  which  the  most  sacred  sanction 
was  required.  Every  criminal  thus  released  and  pre- 
sented at  the  altar  was  obliged  to  make  an  offering  of 
six  pence  (set  danari]  for  the  use  of  the  church.*  (Art. 

*  This  excellent  custom  prevailed  in  many  of  the  Italian  states.  But 
in  different  cities  criminals  were  presented  at  the  altars  of  different 
saints.  See  ante,  p.  134,  for  the  usage  in  Siena.  There  is  a  sonnet  by 
Guido  Orlandi,  a  contemporary  of  Dante,  in  which,  speaking  of  Dante's 
own  party  in  the  State,  he  says,  for  them — 

"  No  pardon  can  be  claimed, 
Excepting  they  be  offered  to  St.  John." 

And  these  words  are  striking  because  this  was  the  very  condition  at- 
tached to  that  recall  to  Florence  which  Dante  received  with  the  other 
exiles  in  1316,  and  which  he  rejected  with  the  noblest  scorn.  There  is 
not  a  manlier  voice  to  be  heard  than  Dante's  in  the  letter  in  which  he 
refuses  terms  which  would  imply  that  he  was  guilty  towards  his  coun- 


2i6      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

xxvii.)  Many  were  the  bequests  of  the  pious,  and  most 
careful  provision  was  made  in  the  statute  for  the  proper 
administration  of  the  houses  and  lands  that  might  thus 
come  into  possession  of  the  opera. 

Two  of  the  best  merchants  of  the  Art  were  annually 
appointed  by  the  consuls  under  the  title  of  Officers  of 
the  Mosaic  Work  of  St.  John  Baptist  ("  Official!  dell' 
Opera  Moyse  di  santo  Giovanni  Battista "),  whose 
duty  it  was  to  provide  for  the  doing  of  whatever  in  the 
way  of  building,  repair,  or  ornament  might  appear  to 
them  for  the  good  and  honor  of  the  fabric.*  The 

try :  "  If  Florence  is  not  to  be  entered  by  the  way  of  honor,  I  will  never 
enter  it."  "  Quidne  ?  Nonne  solis  astrorumque  specula  ubique  conspi- 
ciam  ?  Nonne  dulcissimas  veritates  potero  speculare  ubique  sub  ccelo, 
ni  prius  inglorium,  immo  ignominiosum  populo,  Florentinseque  civitati 
me  reddam  ?  Quippe  nee  panis  deficiet."  This  offer  of  recall  came  to 
Dante  at  the  court  of  Can  Grande  at  Verona.  Many  of  his  companions 
in  exile  submitted  to  its  ignominious  terms,  and  on  St.  John's  Day,  the 
24th  of  June,  1317,  the  Tosinghi,  the  Manelli,  the  Rinucci,  and  others 
walked  as  criminals  and  penitents  in  the  procession,  with  mitres  as  the 
mark  of  their  infamy  upon  their  heads,  with  candles  in  their  hands, 
and  being  presented  at  the  altar,  and  having  made  the  due  offering, 
were  relieved  from  the  penalties  that  had  been  pronounced  against 
them.  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  time  at  which  persons  con- 
demned for  political  offences  were  thus  freed  from  punishment. 

*  These  officers  derived  their  name  from  the  mosaics  with  which 
the  tribune  and  cupola  of  the  church  were  encrusted,  and  which  were 
the  principal  works  of  the  kind  in  Florence.  The  earliest  of  them  were 
designed  and  executed,  as  an  inscription  in  the  mosaic  reports,  by  a 
Franciscan  friar,  Fra  Jacopo  by  name,  in  1225,  and  they  still  remain,  al- 
most as  perfect  as  when  first  set  in  place,  interesting  and  instructive 
memorials  of  the  practice  of  the  arts  at  that  date  in  Florence,  and  of  the 
types  of  representation  of  sacred  subjects,  derived  mainly  from  Byzan- 
tine tradition.  See  Vasari,  Vita  di  Andrea  Tafi,  and  the  commentary  on 
the  Life  of  Tafi,  vol.  i.  p.  287,  in  the  Le  Monnier  edition  of  Vasari 's  Lives, 
Firenze,  1846.  The  inscription  referred  to  closes  with  these  verses : 
"  Sancti  Francisci  f rater  fuit  hoc  operatus 
Jacobus  in  tali  pre  cunctis  arte  probatus." 


DUTIES  OF  THE  ART.  217 

work  was  to  be  "  the  best  and  most  beautiful  that  can 
be  done,  for  the  honor  of  God  and  the  blessed  St.  John." 
(Art.  xii.)  Two  good  men  were  also  appointed  each 
year  to  have  charge  of  the  banners  which  were  hung 
within  the  church,  as  well  as  of  the  triumphant  carroc- 
cio, or  car  of  war,  of  Florence,  which  was  under  the 
especial  protection  and  guardianship  of  St.  John  Bap- 
tist. They  were  to  see  to  maintaining  the  carroccio  in 
good  order,  with  all  its  due  appurtenances,  and  were  to 
provide  a  suitable  place  for  its  safe-keeping,  its  masts 
only  being  kept  within  the  church  itself.  (Art.  xxii.) 
The  sentiment  which  the  carroccio  inspired,  and  the 
honor  done  to  it  as  the  symbol  of  the  warlike  power  of 
the  free  commune,  are  well  indicated  by  these  provi- 
sions. To  the  Florentines  the  car  and  its  banner  were 
sacred ;  to  defend  it  at  all  hazards  was  the  highest  duty, 
to  die  for  its  safety  was  the  noblest  sacrifice  to  the 
genius  of  the  dear  and  reverend  city,  for  which  no  sac- 
rifice could  be  too  costly. 

As  a  portion  of  their  duty  as  guardians  of  the  Church 
of  St.  John,  and  trustees  of  its  property,  with  that  of 
the  other  institutions  of  religion  and  charity  committed 
to  their  charge,  the  Art  of  Calimala  undertook  to  de- 
fend it  against  the  encroachments  of  the  clergy,  who,  it 
would  appear  from  numerous  provisions,  set  up  claims 
or  sought  to  obtain  papal  privileges  or  concessions  in- 
terfering with  the  rights  of  the  Art.  The  consuls  of 
the  Art  were  instructed  to  resist  such  pretensions  by 
every  means  in  their  power,  and,  if  need  arose,  were  au- 


2I8      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

thorized  to  spend  a  thousand  marks  of  the  money  of 
the  Art,  or  more  if  they  saw  fit,  to  secure  "  that  the  said 
works  should  remain  free  and  quiet  under  their  guard 
and  protection."  And  in  order  that  the  rights  of  the 
said  works  may  be  preserved  entire,  "  the  consuls  shall 
be  represented  by  a  procurator  at  the  Court  of  Rome, 
who  shall  zealously  appear  in  audience  to  oppose  who- 
ever may  attempt  to  obtain  any  brief  or  privilege  con- 
trary to  these  rights."  (Art.  xvii.)  It  was  still  further 
ordered  that  the  consuls  of  the  Art  should  summon 
before  them  the  chief  and  best  men  of  the  following 
companies  of  merchants,  namely,  the  Bardi,  Peruzzi, 
Acciaiuoli,  Bonacorsi,  Biliotti,*  and  all  others  that  have 
dealings  in  the  Court  of  Rome ;  and  should  order  each, 
under  oath,  and  under  fitting  penalty,  without  fail  to 
see  to  it  that  the  partners  of  their  companies  who  dwell 
in  and  follow  the  Court  of  Rome  studiously  adopt  the 
needful  measures  with  their  friends  that  the  church 
and  board  of  works  of  St.  John  Baptist  may  be  exempt 
and  free  from  every  impost,  procuration,  or  levy  of  what- 
ever nature  of  the  clergy  of  Florence ;  "  and  that  mes- 
ser  the  Bishop  of  Florence,  or  the  clergy  of  the  cathe- 
dral church  of  Florence,  or  any  one  else,  whether  in 
their  name,  or  his  own,  or  that  of  any  other  person, 

*  The  Bardi,  the  Peruzzi,  and  the  Acciaiuoli  were  at  this  time  the 
leading  bankers  of  Europe.  Their  establishments  were  very  numerous, 
and  their  affairs  as  brokers  and  money-lenders  on  a  vast  scale.  Their 
wealth  and  credit  gave  them  great  power.  They  received  the  papal 
dues  in  all  parts  of  Europe,  transmitting  them  through  their  branch 
houses  to  the  head  firms  in  Florence  and  in  Rome. 


FURTHER  PROVISIONS  OF  THE  STATUTE. 

shall  in  nowise  intermeddle  with  or  interfere  in  any 
matter  concerning  the  said  church  or  opera,  except  in 
so  far  as  permitted  by  the  consuls  of  the  merchants  of 
Calimala,  and  the  other  men  of  the  said  Art,  under 
whose  guard  and  protection  the  said  church  and  opera 
are  directed,  maintained,  and  governed  with  pure  faith." 

"  And  the  said  consuls  are  further  required,  every 
year,  in  the  month  of  January,  to  elect  and  depute  four 
of  the  best  and  most  sensible  merchants  of  Calimala, 
with  every  general  and  special  power  and  authority,  to 
inquire,  discourse,  treat,  and  arrange  with  all  and  sin- 
gular men,  persons,  nobles,  places,  congregations,  and 
communities  of  whatever  condition  or  dignity  they  may 
be,  how  and  by  what  way,  mode,  and  order  the  opera 
and  the  Church  of  St.  John  may  be  best  maintained  in 
honor,  beautiful,  free,  and  exempt,  and  be  watched  over, 
in  perpetuo,  honorably,  to  the  reverence  of  Almighty 
God,  and  of  his  Mother,  and  of  the  said  St.  John,  and  to 
the  good  state  of  the  commune  of  Florence  and  of  the 
most  pure  Art  of  the  merchants  of  Calimala."  (Art. 
xxiv.) 

Similar  provisions  to  those  of  this  statute  in  regard 
to  the  administration  of  the  trust  reposed  in  the  Art  by 
the  commune  undoubtedly  existed  in  those  of  the  other 
chief  Arts.  The  share  that  the  Arts  thus  took  in  the 
erection,  decoration,  and  preservation  of  the  sacred  and 
beautiful  buildings  of  the  city  trained  and  disciplined 
the  perceptions  of  the  citizens,  and  quickened  their 
sympathies  for  the  works  of  their  artists  and  artisans. 


220      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

Every  new  structure  became  a  school  of  the  eye  and 
the  taste  of  the  Florentines,  and  the  effect  was  to  make 
them  competent  in  judgment  and  quick  in  interest  in 
matters  of  art  as  no  other  modern  community  has  been, 
while  "the  chief  and  best  merchants"  formed  a  body 
of  patrons  and  employers  of  artists  unmatched  in  intel- 
ligence except  by  the  merchant  nobles  of  Venice.  No 
wonder  that  the  fine  arts  flourished  under  such  condi- 
tions, and  that  the  city  secured  for  three  centuries  such 
expression  of  her  sentiment,  her  creed,  and  her  life  as 
no  other  city  ever  enjoyed  for  an  equal  length  of  time. 

The  Art  of  Wool,  on  receiving  charge  of  the  struct- 
ure of  the  Duomo,  at  once  proceeded  to  make  provision 
for  the  work,  ordering  that  in  every  warehouse  and  shop 
of  the  craftsmen  of  Florence  a  box  should  be  kept 
wherein  a  certain  sum — the  pence  of  the  Lord — should 
be  put  on  occasion  of  every  sale  or  purchase.  "  In  the 
beginning,"  says  Villani,  "  this  amounted  to  two  thou- 
sand lire  a  year." 

The  records  of  the  work  now  undertaken  on  the 
Duomo  are  lost,  but  on  the  I2th  of  April,  1334,  a  vote 
memorable  in  the  history  of  the  building  was  passed 
by  the  magistracy  of  the  republic,  appointing  the  most 
famous  artist  of  all  Italy,  Giotto,  chief  master  of  the 
work  of  the  cathedral,  and  overseer  of  the  construc- 
tion of  the  walls  and  of  the  other  works  of  the  com- 
mune ;  since,  so  ran  the  preamble,  "  in  the  whole  world 
no  one  more  competent  for  these  and  many  other 
things  can  be  found  than  master  Giotto  di  Bondone,  of 


GIOTTO  MASTER  OF  THE   WORKS.  22I 

Florence,  painter,  and  to  the  end  that  he  may  be  re- 
ceived in  his  own  land  as  a  great  master,  and  one  held 
dear  in  the  above-named  State,  and  that  he  may  have 
reason  for  making  his  abode  continually  in  it,  by  which 
very  many  may  profit  from  his  knowledge  and  teach- 
ing, and  no  slight  honor  result  to  the  city." '  Florence 
showed  her  wisdom  in  thus  choosing  the  most  original 
and  imaginative  of  her  artists  for  the  master  of  her 
works.  He  justified  her  selection,  and  the  judgment 
of  posterity  has  approved  it.  A  hundred  years  later, 
Ghiberti,  writing  his  Commentaries  on  Art,  said,  "  Giot- 
to saw  that  in  art  whereto  others  had  not  attained ;  he 
brought  nature  into  art,  and  grace  therewith,  not  over- 
passing just  limits.  He  was  most  skilful  in  every  art. 
He  was  the  finder  and  discoverer  of  the  great  learn- 
ing that  had  lain  buried  for  about  six  hundred  years. 
When  nature  has  the  will  to  concede  anything,  she  con- 
cedes it  without  stint.  And  this  man  abounded  in  all 
things."! 

Giotto  gave  himself  to  his  new  charge  with  the  ef- 
fectual ardor  of  genius.  No  written  record  of  his  work 
on  the  Duomo  remains,  but  the  walls  themselves  seem 
to  bear  witness  to  it.  A  stretch  of  wall  on  the  north 
and  on  the  south,  running  eastward  from  the  facade, 
more  beautiful  in  composition  and  design,  more  ex- 
quisite in  its  forms  and  in  the  pattern  of  the  slabs  of 

*  Gaye,  Carteggio,  i.  481. 

t  Secondo  Commentario  del  Ghiberti,  in  Le  Monnier's  edition  of  Vasari, 
vol.  i.  p.  1 8. 


222       FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

marble  and  serpentine  with  which  it  is  incrusted  than 
the  later  work  joined  to  it,  may  be  ascribed  with  fair 
probability  to  the  period  of  his  oversight  of  the 
building.* 

But  Giotto's  labor  was  not  limited  to  the  Duomo  it- 
self. In  spite  of  engagements  on  other  work  within 
and  without  the  city,  he  speedily  designed  and  began 
the  construction  of  the  most  exquisite  building  of  mod- 
ern times,  the  one  in  which  the  quality  of  classic  art 
is  most  completely  and  beautifully  harmonized  with  the 
spirit  and  fancy  of  the  modern  times — the  unsurpassed 
bell-tower  of  the  Duomo,  known  and  admired  by  all 
men  as  the  Campanile  of  Giotto,  the  most  splendid  me- 
morial of  the  arts  of  Florence. 

On  the  1 8th  of  July,  1334,  scarcely  more  than  three 
months  after  his  appointment,  the  foundations  of  the 
campanile  were  laid  with  great  pomp  and  religious 
ceremony.! 

The  tower  so  quickly  begun  was  lifted  vigorously, 

*  These  pieces  of  wall  include  four  windows  and  a  door  on  each  side. 
They  have  the  character  of  the  Gothic — "  quella  maniera  Tedesca,"  as 
Vasari  calls  it — adopted  by  Giotto  in  other  buildings.  The  proportions 
of  these  windows  and  portals  are  more  slender,  their  ornamentation  is 
richer  and  more  refined,  their  gables  are  more  pointed,  than  those  of 
the  later  work.  They  are  also  set  closer  together,  between  flat  buttress- 
es nearer  one  to  the  other  than  in  the  rest  of  the  building.  Owing  to 
changes  in  the  construction  of  the  interior,  the  windows  have  been 
blocked  up  within. 

t  Villani,  Cronica,  lib.  xi.  cap.  xii.  Vasari,  in  his  Life  of  Giotto,  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  the  masonry  of  the  foundations,  and  of  Giotto's 
designs  and  models  for  the  tower.  He  states  that  Giotto's  salary  from 
the  commune  was  one  hundred  golden  florins  annually.  In  the  decree 
appointing  him,  the  amount  of  his  salary  is  not  fixed. 


DEATH  OF  GIOTTO. 

and  it  may  have  reached  somewhat  more  than  a  third 
of  its  proposed  height  when,  in  January,  1337,  Giotto, 
"who  in  life,"  says  Vasari,  "had  made  so  many  and 
such  beautiful  works,  and  had  been  not  less  good 
Christian  than  excellent  painter,  gave  back  his  soul  to 
God,  to  the  great  grief  of  all  his  fellow- citizens,  not 
only  of  those  who  had  known  him,  but  also  of  those 
who  had  only  heard  of  him ;  and  he  was  buried,  as  his 
virtues  deserved,  with  honor,  having  been  loved  during 
his  life  by  every  one,  and  especially  by  men  excel- 
lent in  all  the  arts,"  by  Dante,  for  example,  and  by  Pe- 
trarch. He  was  buried  in  Santa  Maria  del  Fiore,  on 
the  side  nearest  the  campanile. 

After  his  death  there  is  a  wide  gap  in  the  annals  of 
the  Duomo.*  To  his  godson  and  pupil,  the  noted 
painter  Taddeo  Gaddi,  and  to  the  sculptor  Neri  di  Fio- 
ravante,  was  intrusted  the  oversight  of  the  work  on  the 
campanile.  But  there  is  no  evidence  concerning  its 
progress  or  as  to  the  date  of  its  completion. f 

The  plague  of  1348  desolated  Florence  only  less 
than  Siena.  Boccaccio,  whose  famous  narrative  gives 
a  most  impressive  picture  of  the  horrors  of  the  pesti- 

*  The  design  of  the  ornamental  fagade  which  partially  covered  the 
front  of  the  building,  and  which  was  taken  down  in  1588,  was  long 
ascribed  by  tradition  to  Giotto.  But  from  documents  first  published 
in  1863,  by  Signor  Cesare  Guasti,  the  keeper  of  the  archives  of  the  opera, 
it  seems  certain  that  he  had  no  hand  in  it,  and  that  its  execution  was 
not  begun  till  at  least  twenty  years  after  his  death.  See  Guasti,  Opus- 
coli  di  Belle  Arti,  Firenze,  1874 ;  Delia  Facciata  di  S.  Maria  del  Fiore, 
pp.  45  seq. 

t  It  was  not  finished  in  1355,  as  appears  from  a  vote  of  new  sums  for 
its  building.  Gaye,  Carteggio,  i.  508. 


224      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

lence,  declares  that  between  March  and  July  more  than 
one  hundred  thousand  persons,  as  is  believed,  died  with- 
in the  walls  of  Florence.  The  number  may  be  exagger- 
ated, but  the  mortality  was  frightful  in  its  amount  and 
terrible  in  its  effect.  The  spring  of  vitality  in  Florence 
was,  however,  unexhausted  by  it,  and  after  a  period  of 
confusion,  dismay,  depravity,  and  recklessness,  the  city 
regained  its  self-control,  and  recovered  more  rapidly 
than  its  weaker  neighbors  from  the  blow  which  had 
checked,  but  had  not  destroyed,  the  sources  of  its  pros- 
perity.* The  plague  had  been  accompanied,  as  one  of 
its  natural  consequences,  by  a  sudden  outbreak  of  pious 
superstition.  Immense  sums  had  been  given  and  be- 
queathed by  dying  men  to  the  Church  and  to  public 
charities  to  purchase  salvation.  And,  when  the  reg- 
ular order  of  life  was  once  more  re  -  established,  the 
Church  found  itself  richer  than  ever  before,  and  there 
was  a  general  ardent  desire  to  ward  off  by  works  of 
piety  the  blows  of  future  evil. 

Moreover,  as  often  happens  after  such  calamities,  the 
reaction  from  the  tension  of  anxiety  and  distress  dis- 
played itself  in  a  changed  habit  of  mind  as  well  as  of 
life.  To  the  survivors  of  the  plague  the  world  seemed 
renewed ;  the  time  had  a  fresh  promise.  The  tales  of 


*  One  consequence  of  the  plague  has  not  been  remarked  as  it  de- 
serves by  the  historians.  In  the  confusion  that  followed  the  extinction 
of  many  important  families  and  the  enforced  vacancy  of  many  offices, 
vast  numbers  of  documents  were  lost  or  wantonly  destroyed.  To  this  , 
cause  is  doubtless  due  the  dearth  of  records  concerning  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  Duomo. 


NEW  DESIGN  FOR    THE  DUO  MO. 

the  Decameron  reveal  the  light-heartedness  of  Florence. 
Old  things  had  passed  away ;  old  designs  appeared  un- 
suited  to  the  new  conditions.  To  such  a  spirit  the 
Duomo  begun  sixty  years  before,  in  days  of  compara- 
tive weakness,  seemed  hardly  to  correspond  with  the 
demands  of  the  more  lavish  and  luxurious  age.  Flor- 
ence was  more  pre-eminent  than  ever  among  the  cities 
of  Tuscany,  and  her  Duomo  ought  to  be  representative 
of  her  present  po\ver  and  wealth.  Accordingly,  and 
doubtless  after  much  deliberation,  it  was  resolved,  "  out 
of  regard  to  the  magnificence  of  the  commune,  and  the 
riches  and  the  fame  of  the  city  and  the  citizens,"  to 
adopt  a  new  design  for  the  Duomo  on  a  grander  scale 
than  that  of  the  building  planned  by  Arnolfo.  The 
breadth  was  to  remain  the  same,  perhaps  in  order  to 
preserve  the  beautiful  side  walls  already  constructed; 
but  the  walls  were  to  be  raised  about  twenty -one 
feet,  the  length  was  to  be  increased  by  more  than  a 
third,  and  the  central  area  and  the  eastern  end  of  the 
church  were  to  be  vastly  enlarged.  This  change  of  de- 
sign required  not  only  the  destruction  of  the  work 
already  done  within  the  walls,  but  also  the  strengthen- 
ing of  the  foundations,  and  a  doubling  of  the  facade 
wall.* 

*  This  reconstruction  of  the  Duomo  has  been  generally  overlooked 
by  the  historians  of  the  arts.  The  belief  that  the  existing  church  is 
constructed  according  to  Arnolfo's  original  design  rests  upon  the  ac- 
count given  by  Vasari  in  his  life  of  that  artist.  It  is  curious  that  Vasari 
appears  ignorant  of  this  fourteenth-century  remodelling.  A  passage 
from  the  Istoria  Fiorentina  of  Marchionne  di  Coppo  Stefani,  who  died 
in  1385,  published  by  the  Padre  Ildefonso  di  San  Luigi,  in  his  Delizie 

15 


226      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

Francesco  Talenti,  sculptor  and  architect,  a  man  of 
high  capacity  but  of  irregular  habits,  of  whose  life  lit- 
tle is  known,  was  the  chief  master  of  the  works,  having 
succeeded  the  famous  Andrea  Pisano  in  that  post,  and 
to  him  was  probably  due  in  general  the  character  of 
the  new  design.  The  authorities  in  charge  of  the  edi- 
fice took  counsel  in  regard  to  its  execution,  according 
.to  well-established  custom,  with  the  most  skilled  mas- 
ters and  the  most  intelligent  laymen,  and  submitted 
the  plans  to  popular  inspection,  publicly  inviting  criti- 
cism upon  them.* 

On  the  i Qth  of  June,  1357, "in  presence  of  the  prov- 
ost, and  all  the  canons  and  chaplains  and  friars,  and 
masters  and  citizens  who  had  been  of  the  council,  with 
a  great  triumph  of  bells,  of  organs,  and  of  chants,  at 
vespers,  the  digging  for  the  foundation  of  the  new  piers 
of  the  church  was  begun."  And  on  the  5th  of  July 
following,  "  the  Bishop  of  Narni  having  blessed  and  con- 

degli  Eruditi  Toscani,  Firenze,  1781,  vol.  xiv.  p.  30,  in  which  the  chroni- 
cler describes  the  undertaking  of  the  new  building,  seems  to  have  lain 
unnoticed.  The  true  facts  were  first  brought  out  by  the  Cavalier  Ca- 
millo  Boito  in  a  series  of  papers  entitled  Francesco  Talenti :  Ricerche 
Storiche  sul  Duomo  di  Firenze  dal  1294  al  1367.  Milan o,  1866.  They 
have  since  been  repeated  in  a  series  of  interesting  communications  on 
the  history  of  the  Duomo,  by  Signor  C.  I.  Cavalucci,  which  appeared  at 
Florence  in  the  newspaper  La  Nazione  in  the  course  of  1871,  under  the 
title  of  Cenni  Storici  sulla  Edificazione  della  Cattedrale  Fiorentina. 

*  It  appears  that  only  a  general  scheme  of  the  reconstruction  was 
adopted,  leaving  the  consideration  of  details  until  the  time  when  in  the 
progress  of  the  work  a  decision  in  regard  to  them  might  become  nec- 
essary. This  seems  to  have  been  a  not  infrequent  mode  of  procedure 
in  the  construction  of  the  great  mediaeval  churches,  and  thus  some  of 
the  incongruities  and  irregularities  apparent  in  them  are  to  be  ac- 
counted for. 


CHANGE  IN  ARCHITECTURAL   STYLE. 


227 


secrated  a  block  of  marble,  on  which  were  carved  a  cross 
and  the  date  of  year  and  day,  they  began,  in  the  name 
of  God,  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  first  column  within 
the  church  towards  the  campanile,"  with  great  pomp 
and  sacred  ceremony. 

Thus  the  church  that  Arnolfo  had  designed  gave 
way  to  a  mightier  edifice  which  was  to  be  the  perma- 
nent expression  of  the  pride  and  the  piety  of  Flor- 
ence.* 

The  main  forms  of  the  new  building  were  in  great 
part  determined  by  such  portion  of  the  old  structure 
of  Giotto's  time  as  was  left  standing,  as  well  as  by  the 
original  scheme  of  Arnolfo.  They  were  of  the  Gothic 
style  as  modified  by  Tuscan  builders,  but  the  spirit 
that  had  vivified  the  art  of  Arnolfo  and  Giotto  and 
their  immediate  successors  was  declining  with  a  grad- 
ual change  in  the  taste  of  the  age,  which  displays  it- 
self in  an  inclination,  not  yet  clear  or  decisive,  but  in 
its  earliest  stages,  towards  a  recurrence  to  classical 

*  Probably  all  that  remains  of  Arnolfo 's  building  are  the  foundations 
and  part  of  the  interior  brickwork  of  the  fagade,  and  of  the  side  walls 
for  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  eastward  from  the  front. 

As  illustrative  of  the  mode  of  procedure  by  popular  counsel,  it  is  re- 
corded that  in  1357  the  operai  ordered  that  the  drawing  showing  the 
proposed  changes  in  the  fagade  be  hung  upon  it  on  the  outside,  that 
all  might  see  how  it  was  to  be  built.  Guasti,  Opuscoli,  p.  50.  And  in  the 
same  year,  when  the  form  of  the  columns  within  the  church  was  to  be 
decided,  the  model  selected  by  the  Board  of  Works  was  set  up  for  in- 
spection, and  at  its  foot  was  written  in  large  letters  that  if  any  one 
should  have  fault  to  find  with  it,  he  should  within  eight  days  come  to 
the  operai,  or  to  others  in  their  place,  and  speak  his  mind,  and  he 
should  be  graciously  listened  to.  Cavalucci,  Cenni  Storici,  ii.  Boito, 
Francesco  Talenti,  p.  30. 


228    FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

modes  of  design  and  construction.  The  new  school  of 
artists  were  out  of  sympathy  with  their  predecessors. 
They  had  still  less  mastered  the  principles  of  Gothic 
architecture.  They  imitated  its  forms,  but  were  un- 
aware that  the  excellence  of  those  forms  was  essen- 
tially dependent  on  the  modes  of  construction  in  which 
they  had  their  origin.  They  built  as  Italians  upon  a 
system  and  method  whose  traditions  reached  back  to 
Roman  times.  The  result  was  neither  good  Gothic 
nor  good  classic  building. 

Its  size  gives  dignity  to.  the  church,  and  its  effect  is 
powerful  from  the  simplicity  and  largeness  of  its  de- 
sign. A  nave  of  four  enormous  bays  is  stopped  upon  a 
vast  octagonal  space,  from  which,  at  the  east,  the  north, 
and  the  south,  are  built  out  three  pentagonal  tribunes 
or  apses,  which,  as  seen  on  the  outside,  give  to  the 
church  the  common  cruciform  shape.  The  propor- 
tions of  the  interior  are  on  an  enormous  scale,  by  which 
the  apparent  size  of  the  building  is  diminished  rather 
than  increased.*  There  is  nothing  either  in  the  general 
conception  or  in  the  working-out  of  the  details  which 
corresponds  with  that  principle,  characteristic  of  the 
best  Northern  Gothic,  of  complex  organization  in  which 
each  minor  part  contributes  to  the  vital  unity  of  the 

*  "  The  most  studious  ingenuity,"  says  Mr.  Ruskin,  with  pardonable 
exaggeration,  "  could  not  produce  a  design  for  the  interior  of  a  build- 
ing which  should  more  completely  hide  its  extent,  and  throw  away 
every  common  advantage  of  its  magnitude,  than  this  of  the  Duomo  of 
Florence."  Mornings  in  Florence,  p.  99.  Yet  there  is  grandeur  in  the 
breadth  of  its  spaces,  in  the  immense  span  of  its  vaults,  and  the  extent 
of  its  unadorned  walls. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  EDIFICE. 

whole  edifice.  The  Duomo  presents,  on  the  contrary, 
an  assemblage  of  separate  vast  features  arbitrarily  as- 
sociated, rather  than  united  by  any  law  of  mutual  rela- 
tion into  a  completely  harmonious  whole.  It  does  not 
display  that  lavish  wealth  of  fancy  in  ever-changing  va- 
riety and  abundance  of  detail  which  gives  inexhausti- 
ble charm  to  a  true  Gothic  edifice.  But  it  is  impres- 
sive within  from  its  vast  open  spaces,  and  from  the 
stately  and  simple,  though  barren,  grandeur  of  its  piers 
and  vaults  and  walls. 

The  effect  of  the  building  from  without  is  imposing 
from  its  mass,  but,  in  a  near  view,  it  is  only  on  the  east 
that  the  lines  compose  into  forms  of  beauty.  The 
front  was  to  have  an  ornamental  facade,  richly  adorn- 
ed with  sculpture  and  mosaic.  The  side  walls  are  in- 
crusted,  after  the  old  Tuscan  style,  with  simple  rec- 
tangular patterns  of  white  and  red  marble,  interrupted 
by  the  rich  decoration  of  gable  and  pinnacle  over  the 
doors  and  windows.  It  is  all  gay  and  exquisite  and 
rich  ;  but  without  as  within  there  is  a  lack  of  fancy,  and 
even  the  delicate  refinement  of  the  inlaying  and  the 
carving  does  not  compensate  for  the  absence  of  noble 
controlling  decorative  motives  and  of  harmonious  con- 
cord of  line.* 

It  is  when  seen  from  a  distance  that  the  full  worth 
and  power  of  the  great  cathedral  force  themselves  upon 

*  The  horizontal  lines  of  surface  decoration  break  injuriously  upon 
the  vertical  lines  of  the  windows,  and  the  forms  of  the  highly  orna- 
mented gables  are  curiously  inorganic. 


230    FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

the  beholder.  Looking  down  upon  Florence  from  one 
of  the  neighboring  heights,  the  beautiful  city  seems  to 
lie  gathered  under  the  shelter  of  its  mighty  Duomo. 
The  stretch  of  its  wall  is  ample  for  the  house  in 
which  the  whole  people  shall  gather,  and,  lifting  itself 
above  the  clustering  towers  and  belfries  of  palaces  and 
churches,  the  unrivalled  dome  crowns  the  edifice,  and 
with  its  noble  elliptic  lines  not  merely  concentrates  the 
scattered  forms  of  the  buildings  beneath  and  around  it 
far  and  near,  but  to  the  inward  eye  seems  equally  to 
concentrate  all  the  divergent  energies  of  the  historic 
life  of  Florence,  and  lift  them  along  its  curves  to  the 
foot  of  the  cross  upon  its  heaven-reaching  summit.  It 
seems  of  equal  date  with  the  mountains  that  close  the 
background  to  the  landscape  of  which  it  forms  the  cen- 
tral interest;  and  they  seem  to  look  down  upon  this 
work  of  man  as  one  not  unworthy  of  their  guardian- 
ship. 

The  work  begun  in  1357  was  carried  forward  stead- 
ily, but  slowly,  for  the  next  ten  years,  when  the  four 
bays  of  the  nave  approached  completion.  It  was  now 
time  to  proceed  with  the  construction  of  the  tribunes, 
and  in  1366  and  the  next  two  years  frequent  councils 
of  the  Board  of  Works  and  of  citizens  of  good  under- 
standing and  repute  were  held,  at  which  various  plans 
and  models  were  discussed.  The  deliberations  were 
long,  the  diversities  of  opinion  were  great,  the  decision 
was  slow.  Near  the  end  of  1368  a  conclusion  was 
reached,  and  work  on  the  eastern  tribune,  forming  the 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK. 

end  of  the  church  in  that  direction,  was  begun.  Fran- 
cesco Talenti  was  still  chief  master,  to  be  succeeded 
the  next  year  by  his  son  Simone.  But  for  some  years 
little  progress  was  made,  partly  owing  to  the  political 
confusion  due  to  the  discord  and  violence  of  the  parties 
by  which  the  city  was  divided,  as  well  as  to  a  bitter  war 
with  the  Pope,  Gregory  XI.  (1375-78);  partly  to  the  fact 
that  the  commune  from  time  to  time  devoted  the  funds 
intended  for  the  Duomo  to  other  ends  of  public  advan- 
tage, such  as  the  building  of  the  city  walls,  and  the 
erection,  from  the  design  of  Orcagna,  of  the  beautiful 
Loggia  de'  Lanzi,  still  one  of  the  chief  ornaments  of 
Florence.*  The  vigorous  vitality  of  the  city  was  ap- 
parent in  her  capacity,  in  the  midst  of  almost  constant 
civil  distraction,  thus  to  continue  to  strengthen  and 
adorn  herself.  In  1382  the  party  of  the  great  family 
of  the  Albizzi  succeeded  in  establishing  itself  as  the 
ruling  power  in  the  city,  and  in  obtaining  a  position 
which  it  held,  on  the  whole  to  the  advantage  of  the 
State,  for  the  next  fifty  years,  by  means  of  energy,  high 
character,  and  political  courage  and  intelligence.  It  is 
probably  not  a  mere  accidental  coincidence  that  almost 
at  once  a  fresh  spirit  appears  in  the  building  of  the  ca- 
thedral, and  that  the  last  years  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury and  the  first  years  of  the  fifteenth  are  marked  by 
records  which  indicate  activity  in  the  construction,  and 
still  more  in  the  adornment,  of  the  great  edifice.  In 

*  Gaye,  Carteggio,  etc.  i.  521,  527.    The  Loggia  de'  Lanzi  was  begun 
in  1376. 


2 3 2     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

1383  the  building  of  the  chapels  around  the  octago- 
nal choir  was  begun ;  tracery  was  inserted  in  the  cen- 
tral round  window  of  the  front;  and  in  the  next 
years  there  were  many  commissions  for  sculpture  with 
which  the  facade  and  the  side  portals  were  to  be 
adorned. 

The  art  of  the  sculptor  was  entering  on  a  new  de- 
velopment. The  spirit  of  the  Renaissance  was  be- 
ginning to  find  expression  in  it  for  those  more  per- 
sonal moods  and  emotions  which  were  characteristic 
of  the  change  in  the  moral  and  intellectual  temper 
of  the  times.  It  was  still  limited  in  its  field  main- 
ly to  sacred  subjects;  it  was  still  imperfect  in  its  mas- 
tery of  its  own  powers;  still  hampered  by  conven- 
tional types  of  representation.  Even  the  genius  of 
Giotto  and  of  Orcagna  had  not  secured  for  it  entire 
freedom  and  range  of  expression.  But  the  work  they 
had  done  had  opened  the  way  of  progress,  and  in  the 
closing  years  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  men  were 
born  who  were  to  enter  in  and  take  possession  of  the 
domain  of  the  art  with  power  such  as  had  not  been 
manifest  since  the  time  of  the  Greeks,  and  with  an 
inspiration  fresh,  original,  springing  from  sources  of 
which  the  Greeks  had  not  partaken.  The  records 
of  the  opera  are  filled  with  commissions  for  statues  of 
the  Madonna  and  her  Child,  of  apostles,  saints,  and  an- 
gels. Most  of  the  works  of  these  years  have  perished, 
and  their  places  have  been  in  part  taken  by  the  pro- 
ductions of  a  later  time ;  but  the  few  that  remain  dis- 


COMPLETION  OF  THE    WALLS.  233 

play  the  merit  of  the  precursors  of  Ghiberti,  Donatello, 
and  Luca  della  Robbia.* 

In  1407,  nearly  forty  years  after  it  had  been  begun, 
the  eastern  tribune,  with  its  five  chapels,  was  completed. 
A  more  important  work  was  now  to  be  taken  in  hand. 

*  Dr.  Hans  Semper,  in  his  thorough  and  excellent  work  Donatello, 
seine  Zeit  und  Schule,  Wien,  1875,  pp.  49-53,  gives  a  good  account  of 
these  works. 


I V. — Continued. 

FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

II.  THE  DOME  OF  BRUNELLESCHI. 

IN  the  chapter-house,  the  so-called  Spanish  chapel,  of 
Santa  Maria  Novella  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  pict- 
ures of  the  fourteenth  century.  It  has  been  ascribed, 
rightly  or  wrongly  is  of  little  consequence,  to  the  great 
Sienese  master  Simone  Memmi.  It  represents,  in  a 
varied  and  crowded  composition  of  many  scenes,  the 
services  and  the  exaltation  of  St.  Dominic  and  his 
order.  The  artist  may  well  have  had  in  his  mind  the 
splendid  eulogy  of  the  saint  which  Dante  heard  from 
St.  Bonaventura  in  Paradise.  As  the  type  and  image 
of  the  visible  Church,  the  painter  has  depicted  the 
Duomo  of  Florence,  not  unfinished,  as  it  was  at  the 
time,  but  completed,  and  representing,  we  may  believe, 
in  its  general  features,  the  original  project  of  Arnolfo, 
although  the  details  are  rather  in  the  spirit  of  the  deli- 
cate Gothic  work  of  Orcagna's  school  than  in  that  of 
an  earlier  time.  The  central  area  of  the  church  is 
covered  by  an  octagonal  dome  that  rises  from  a  cornice 
on  a  level  with  the  roof  of  the  nave,  and  is  adorned  at 
each  angle  with  the  figure  of  an  angel. 


PROJECT  OF  A  DOME.  235 

When  the  church  now,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  was  approaching  completion,  this  orig- 
inal project  of  an  octagonal  dome  still  seemed  the  only 
plan  practicable  for  the  covering  of  the  intersection  of 
nave  and  transept ;  but  the  construction  of  such  a  work 
had  been  rendered  vastly  more  difficult  by  the  immense 
increase  in  the  original  dimensions.  The  area  to  be 
spanned  was  enormous,  for  the  diameter  of  the  octa- 
gon was  now  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet* 
The  difficulty  was  the  greater  from  the  height  of  the 
walls  from  which  the  dome  must  spring.  No  Gothic 
builder  had  vaulted  such  an  area  as  this.  Since  the 
Pantheon  was  built,  no  architect  had  attempted  a  dome 
with  such  a  span ;  and  the  dome  of  the  Pantheon  itself, 
with  a  diameter  of  one  hundred  and  forty-three  feet, 
rose  from  a  wall  that  was  but  seventy-two  feet  in  height. 
The  dome  of  St.  Sophia,  the  supreme  work  of  the  By- 
zantine builders,  with  the  resources  of  the  Empire  at 
their  command,  had  a  diameter  of  but  one  hundred 
and  four  feet,  and  the  height  from  the  ground  to  its 
very  summit  was  but  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
feet.  The  records  of  architecture  could  not  show  such 
a  dome  as  this  must  be.  Where  was  the  architect  to 
be  found  who  would  venture  to  undertake  its  construc- 
tion ?  What  were  the  means  he  could  employ  for  its 
execution  ?  Such  were  the  questions  that  pressed  upon 

*  Liitzow,  Meisterwerke  der  Kirchenbaukunst,  Leipsic,  1871,  p.  418, 
gives  the  diameter  as  135  ft.  2  in.;  Fergusson,  History  of  Architecture, 
1867,  ii.  321,  gives  it  as  126  ft.  The  height  of  the  nave  is,  according  to 
Ltitzow,  139  ft.  5  in. 


236     FLORENCE,  AND   ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

those  who  had  the  work  in  charge,  and  which  busied 
the  thoughts  of  the  builders  of  the  time. 

While  this  problem  was  still  unsolved,  a  work  was 
undertaken  by  the  guardians  of  the  baptistery  which 
was  to  add  a  permanent  and  splendid  artistic  distinc- 
tion to  the  beautiful  city  that  nursed  the  arts  so  well, 
and  which,  from  the  circumstances  attending  it,  was  to 
have  a  decisive  influence  on  the  further  history  of  the 
Duomo. 

So  long  ago  as  1329,  the  Consuls  of  the  Art  of  Cali- 
mala  had  resolved  that  three  doors  of  gilded  bronze, 
"  the  most  beautiful  that  could  be,"  should  be  made 
for  the  baptistery,  and  had  committed  the  work  to 
the  sculptor  Andrea  Pisano,  who,  carrying  forward  the 
sound  traditions  of  the  Pisan  school,  was  deemed  "  the 
most  valiant,  skilful,  and  judicious  master  not  only  in 
Tuscany,  but  in  all  Italy."  * 

Andrea,  aided  by  his  son  Nino,  made  a  single  door, 
which  still  remains  one  of  the  most  precious  works  of 
the  art  of  the  fourteenth  century,  but  the  others  were 
not  completed.  Meanwhile  the  skill  in  sculpture  and 
in  bronze-casting  had  greatly  advanced,  in  the  general 
rapid  progress  of  the  arts;  and  in  1401  the  deputies  of 
the  Art  of  Calimala  resolved  that  the  remaining  doors 
should  be  made,  and  selected  six  of  the  most  esteemed 
artists  each  to  prepare  within  a  year  a  bass-relief  in 


*  Vasari,  Life  of  Andrea  Pisano,  in  Milanesi's  edition  of  the  Vite, 
Firenze,  1878,  i.  487.  In  regard  to  the  door  made  by  Andrea,  see  Sem- 
per, Donatella,  seine  Zeit  ^tnd  Schule,  p.  19. 


COMPE  TITION  FOR  THE  DOORS  OF  BAP  TIS  TER  Y.     337 

bronze,  such  as  might  form  one  compartment  of  a  door, 
with  the  promise  that  the  work  of  all  should  be  paid 
for,  and  that  to  him  whose  work  should  be  approved 
as  the  best  the  making  of  the  door  should  be  com- 
mitted. The  subject  assigned  for  the  competition  was 
the  sacrifice  of  Abraham.  Among  the  artists  selected 
were  two  youths,  Filippo  Brunelleschi,  then  twenty-four 
years  old,  and  Lorenzo  Ghiberti,  four  years  younger, 
both  of  whom  had  already  given  proof  of  rare  ability, 
so  early  did  the  warm  sun  of  Florence  in  those  days 
mature  the  genius  of  her  children.  Each  had  served 
his  apprenticeship  as  goldsmith,  an  incomparable  train- 
ing of  eye  and  hand  and  soul  for  the  higher  arts  in  days 
when  the  love  of  beauty,  refining  the  taste,  required  ex- 
quisite form  in  personal  ornaments,  and  demanded  of 
the  goldsmith  that  his  art  should  add  a  worth  far  be- 
yond their  own  to  gold  and  jewels. 

The  competition  was  keen,  and  excited  a  lively  in- 
terest among  the  citizens.  When  the  trial  pieces  were 
shown,  it  was  plain  to  all  that  the  choice  lay  between 
those  of  the  two  young  artists.  Ghiberti,  indeed,  in 
the  brief  account  of  his  own  life  which  he  wrote  in 
later  years,  says,  with  characteristic  vanity,  "  The  palm 
of  victory  was  conceded  to  me  by  all  the  experts  and 
by  all  the  competitors ;  the  glory  was  universally  con- 
ceded to  me  without  any  exception."  But  the  con- 
temporary biographer  of  Brunelleschi  relates  that  the 
judges  reported  to  the  Board  of  Works  of  St.  John  that 
both  the  models  were  most  beautiful,  and  recommend- 


FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

ed  that  the  commission  be  divided  between  the  two 
sculptors.  However  this  may  have  been,  and  whether 
or  not  Brunelleschi,  as  his  biographer  says,  refused  the 
proposed  division,  the  making  of  the  door  was  finally, 
on  the  23d  of  November,  1403,  assigned  to  Ghiberti.* 

The  two  trial  pieces  still  exist  and  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  National  Museum  in  the  Palazzo  del  Podesta  at 
Florence,  and  the  contemporary  judgment  is  confirm- 
ed by  that  of  posterity.  For  while  Brunelleschi's  piece 
shows  a  more  imaginative  conception  and  more  real- 


*  Ghiberti,  Secondo  Commentario,  §  xvi.,  in  the  first  volume  of  Le  Mon- 
nier's  Vasari,  p.  30.  Vita  Anonima  di  Brunelleschi,  pp.  148-151.  Va- 
sari's  account  of  the  competition,  in  his  Life  of  Ghiberti,  which  is  re- 
peated essentially  in  his  Life  of  Brunelleschi,  is  embellished  more  suo, 
and  inaccurate.  He  makes  Donatello  one  of  the  competitors,  but  in 
1401  Donatello  was  a  boy  of  fifteen.  See  Semper,  Donatello,  p.  231. 

The  anonymous  biography  of  Brunelleschi  was  written  not  long  af- 
ter his  death  by  a  contemporary  who  tells  us  that  he  knew  him  and 
had  spoken  with  him.  It  bears  the  mark  of  genuineness,  but  cannot 
be  relied  on  for  complete  exactness.  It  was  first  published  in  Florence, 
in  1812,  by  the  Canonico  Domenico  Moreni,  together  with  a  Life  of  Bru- 
nelleschi by  Baldinucci,  preceded  by  an  essay,  by  Moreni,  on  the  Fine 
Arts  in  Tuscany.  In  another  edition  of  the  same  year  this  preliminary 
essay  is  omitted ;  it  is  to  a  copy  of  the  latter  edition  that  the  citations 
in  the  following  pages  refer. 

Moreni  says,  in  his  preface,  that  the  anonymous  biography  was  "  al- 
together unknown  "  to  Vasari ;  but  this  is  an  error,  for  Vasari  not  only 
follows  it  closely  in  the  narration  of  many  facts,  but  frequently  adopts 
its  very  words.  It  is  attributed  by  Gaetano  Milanesi  to  Antonio  Ma- 
netti,  the  author  of  the  famous  Novella  del  Grasso  Legnajuolo,  of  which 
Brunelleschi  is  the  hero.  See  his  edition  of  Vasari's  Lives,  Florence, 
1878,  torn.  ii.  p.  329,  note. 

The  Life  by  Baldinucci  is  carefully  compiled  from  original  sources ; 
but  its  value  has  been  diminished  by  the  fuller  publication  of  the  doc- 
uments relating  to  Brunelleschi's  life  and  works,  by  Signer  Cesare 
Guasti,  in  La  Cupola  di  Santa  Maria  del  Fiore  illustrata  con  i  Documenti 
dell  Archivio  dell  Opera  Secolare,  Firenze,  1857. 


RESULT  OF  THE  COMPETITION,  239 

istic  vigor  in  the  expression  and  action  of  the  figures 
than  that  of  his  rival,  Ghiberti's  composition  is  richer 
and  more  harmonious  in  line,  more  elegant  in  detail, 
and  far  more  skilful  in  technical  execution.  In  Bru- 
nelleschi's  work  the  figures  were  cast  separately,  and 
fastened  upon  the  plate,  after  the  old  manner  of  pro- 
cedure in  bronze-casting;  while  Ghiberti,  eager  in  in- 
vention and  quick  of  wit,  had  adopted  a  recent  improve- 
ment in  the  art,  and  cast  his  work  in  a  single  piece,  to 
which  he  had  given  an  unexampled  delicacy  of  finish. 

Brunelleschi,  disappointed,  but  conscious  of  the  de- 
fects of  his  own  performance  when  compared  with  that 
of  his  rival,  and  still  more  when  compared  with  the  works 
of  the  ancients,  and  filled  with  the  enthusiasm  for  clas- 
sic antiquity  which  was  the  inspiration  of  the  younger 
spirits  of  the  time,  said  to  himself,  as  his  contemporary 
biographer  reports,  "  that  it  would  be  well  to  go  where 
the  sculptures  are  good,"  and  accordingly  set  out  for 
Rome.  He  is  said  to  have  taken,  as  his  companion,  the 
young  Donatello,  whose  expressive  and  romantic  genius 
had  already  displayed  itself  in  work  stamped  with  a  clear 
originality,  and  whose  ardor  in  the  pursuit  of  art  was 
not  less  burning  and  constant  than  his  own.* 

*  The  anonymous  biographer  and  Vasari  agree,  the  latter,  however, 
probably  merely  repeating  the  statement  of  the  former,  as  to  Brunel- 
leschi's  being  accompanied  by  Donatello.  Semper,  in  his  thorough 
study  of  Donatello's  life,  already  cited,  expresses  no  doubt  of  the  fact. 
I  prefer  to  believe  rather  than  to  doubt  it ;  but  Donatello's  name  ap- 
pears in  the  first  agreement  made  by  Ghiberti  with  the  Board  of 
Works  of  St.  John  as  that  of  one  of  the  assistants  in  the  work  on  the 
door,  and  reappears  in  a  second  agreement  made  in  1407.  See  Com- 


240    FLORENCE,  AND   ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

It  cannot  now  be  determined,  and  it  is  of  little  im- 
portance, whether  Brunelleschi's  object  in  going  to  Rome 
was  as  distinctly  defined  beforehand  in  his  own  mind  as 
Vasari  declares  in  the  statement  that  he  had  two  most 
grand  designs — one  to  bring  to  light  again  good  archi- 
tecture ;  the  other  to  find  the  means,  if  he  could,  of 
vaulting  the  cupola  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Flower,"  an  inten- 
tion of  which  he  said  nothing  to  Donatello  or  any  liv- 
ing soul " — or  whether,  as  the  anonymous  biographer  im- 
plies, this  object  gradually  took  shape  in  his  thought 
as  he  studied  the  remains  of  Roman  antiquity,  ac- 
quainting himself  with  the  forms  and  proportions  of 
classic  buildings,  and  with  the  unsurpassed  methods  of 
Roman  construction.  But  this  journey  of  Brunelleschi 
and  Donatello,  that  they  might  learn,  and,  learning,  re- 
vive, "  the  good  ancient  art,"  is  one  of  the  capital  inci- 
dents in  the  modern  Renaissance.  These  were  the  two 
men  in  all  Florence,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  of  deepest  nature,  of  most  various  and  original 
genius.  They  were  in  little  sympathy  with  the  temper 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  For  them  the  charm  of  its  finest 
moods  was  lost.  The  spirit  that  had  given  form  to 
Gothic  art  had  always  been  foreign  to  Tuscan  artists. 
The  traditions  of  an  earlier  time  had  never  wholly 
failed  to  influence  their  work.  And  now  the  worth  and 
significance  of  ancient  art,  first  recognized  by  Niccola 
Pisano  a  century  and  a  half  earlier,  were  felt  as  never 

mentario  alia  Vita  di  Lorenzo  Ghiberti,  Vasari,  ed.  Le  Monnier,  vol.  iii. 
pp.  128,  129. 


INFLUENCE  OF  CLASSIC  ART.  241 

before.  The  work  of  the  scholars  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  in  the  collection  and  study  of  the  fragments 
of  ancient  culture,  was  bearing  fruit.  For  a  hundred 
years  the  progress  in  letters  and  the  arts  in  Italy  had 
been  quickened  by  the  increasing  knowledge  of  the 
past,  and  with  each  step  of  advance  men  had  not  only 
felt  deeper  and  more  inspiring  delight  in  the  ideals  of 
the  classic  world,  but  had  found  more  and  more  in- 
struction in  the  models  which  its  works  presented. 
Through  the  creations  of  the  art  of  former  days  nature 
herself  was  revealed  to  them  in  new  aspects.  Their 
reverence  for  the  teachings  of  the  ancients  was  often 
uncritical  and  indiscriminate,  but  the  zeal  with  which 
they  sought  them  was  sincere  and  invigorating.  It 
was  not  till  a  later  time,  when  the  first  eagerness  of 
enthusiasm  had  given  place  to  a  dry  pedantry  of  in- 
vestigation, that  the  study  of  classic  models  allured  a 
weaker  generation  from  the  paths  of  nature  and  inde- 
pendence into  those  of  artificiality  and  imitation. 

Brunelleschi  was  the  first  artist  to  visit  Rome  with 
fully  open  modern  eyes.  From  morning  till  night,  day 
after  day,  he  and  Donatello  were  at  work  unearthing 
half-buried  ruins,  measuring  columns  and  entablatures, 
digging  up  hidden  fragments,  searching  for  whatever 
might  reveal  the  secrets  of  ancient  time.  The  common 
people  fancied  them  to  be  seekers  for  buried  treasure ; 
but  the  treasure  for  which  they  sought  was  visible  only 
to  one  who  had,  like  Brunelleschi,  as  his  biographer 
says,  "  buono  occhio  mentale,"  a  clear  mental  eye. 

16 


242     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

For  many  years  the  greater  part  of  Brunelleschi's 
life  was  spent  in  Rome.  He  had  sold  a  little  farm  that 
he  owned  at  Settignano,  near  Florence,  to  obtain  the 
means  of  living;  but,  falling  short  of  money  after  a  while, 
he  turned  to  the  art  in  which  he  had  served  his  appren- 
ticeship, and  gained  his  livelihood  by  work  as  a  gold- 
smith. The  condition  of  Rome  at  this  time  was  wretch- 
ed in  the  extreme.  Nothing  was  left  of  the  dignity  of 
the  ancient  city  but  its  ruins.  There  was  no  settled 
civic  order,  no  regular  administration  of  law  or  jus- 
tice. Life  and  property  were  insecure.  The  people 
were  poor,  suffering,  and  turbulent.  Rome  was  the 
least  civilized  city  of  Italy.  Its  aspect  was  as  wretch- 
ed as  its  condition.  Large  tracts  within  its  walls  were 
vacant.  Its  inhabited  portions  were  a  labyrinth  of 
filthy  lanes.  Many  churches,  built  in  earlier  centuries, 
were  neglected  and  falling  to  ruin.  There  was  no  re- 
spect for  the  monuments  of  former  times.  Many  were 
buried  under  heaps  of  the  foulest  rubbish ;  many  were 
used  as  quarries  of  stone  for  common  walls;  many  were 
cumbered  by  mean  buildings,  or  occupied  as  strong- 
holds. The  portico  of  the  Pantheon  was  filled  with 
stalls  and  booths ;  the  arcades  of  the  Colosseum  were 
blocked  up  with  rude  structures  used  for  the  most  va- 
rious purposes ;  the  Forum  was  crowded  with  a  con- 
fused mass  of  low  dwellings.  Ancient  marbles,  frag- 
ments of  splendid  sculpture,  were  often  calcined  for 
lime.  The  reawakening  interest  in  antiquity  which 
was  inspiring  the  scholars  and  artists  of  Florence,  and 


GROWTH  OF  BRUNELLESCHPS  REPUTE.    343 

which  was  beginning  to  modify  profoundly  the  culture 
and  the  life  of  Europe,  was  not  yet  shared  by  those  who 
dwelt  within  the  city  which  was  its  chief  source,  and 
reverence  for  Rome  was  nowhere  less  felt  than  in  Rome 
itself. 

But  the  example  and  the  labors  of  Brunelleschi 
were  opening  the  way  to  change.  He  was  the  pio- 
neer along  a  path  leading  to  modern  times.  In  the 
midst  of  conditions  that  must  have  weighed  heavily 
upon  him,  he  continued  the  diligent  study  of  the  re- 
mains of  ancient  art,  investigating  especially  such 
structures  as  the  Pantheon  and  the  Baths,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  learning  the  methods  adopted  in  their  con- 
struction. 

Meantime  his  repute  was  slowly  advancing  at  home, 
and  when,  at  intervals,  he  visited  Florence,  he  was  con- 
sulted in  respect  to  the  public  and  private  buildings 
with  which  the  flourishing  city  was  adorning  herself. 
The  work  on  the  Duomo  was  steadily  proceeding.  The 
eastern  tribune  was  finished  in  1407;  the  others  wrere 
approaching  completion.  The  original  plan  of  a  dome 
springing  from  the  level  of  the  roof  of  the  nave  had 
been  recognized  as  unfit  for  the  larger  church.  Such 
a  dome  would  have  had  too  heavy  and  too  low  a  look. 
It  had  been  decided  that  the  dome  must  be  lifted  above 
the  level  of  the  roof  upon  a  massive  octagonal  drum ; 
and  already  in  1417  the  occhi,  or  round  lights,  of  the 
drum  \vere  constructing,  and  the  time  was  close  at  hand 
when  the  structure  would  be  ready  for  the  beginning 


244      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

of  the  dome  itself.*  The  overseers  of  the  work  were 
embarrassed  by  the  difficulty  of  the  task  by  which  they 
were  confronted,  and  knew  not  how  to  proceed.  If  a 
framework  for  the  centring  of  the  dome  were  to  be 
built  up  from  the  ground,  they  stood  aghast  at  the 
quantity  of  timber  required  for  it,  and  at  the  enormous 
cost,  so  that  it  seemed  to  them  well-nigh  an  impossibil- 
ity, or,  to  speak  more  truly,  absolutely  impossible.! 

The  Board  of  Works  sought  advice  from  Brunel- 
leschi.  "  But  if  the  master  builders  had  seen  difficul- 
ties, Philip  showed  them  far  more.  And  some  one  ask- 
ing, Is  there,  then,  no  mode  of  erecting  it  ?  Philip,  who 
was  ingenious  also  in  discourse,  replied  that  if  the 
thing  were  really  impossible,  it  could  not  be  done ;  but 
that  if  it  were  not  so,  there  ought  to  be  some  one  in  the 
world  who  could  do  the  work ;  and,  seeing  that  it  was  a 
religious  edifice,  the  Lord  God,  to  whom  nothing  was 
impossible,  would  surely  not  abandon  it."  \  Further 
consultations  were  held,  and  on  May  19, 1417,  the  opera 
voted  to  give  to  Filippo  di  Ser  Brunellesco — "  pro  bona 
gratuitate  " — for  his  labor  in  making  drawings  and  em- 
ploying himself  concerning  the  cupola,  ten  golden 
florins.  § 

*  There  is  no  evidence  in  regard  to  the  author  of  the  design  for  the 
drum  from  which  the  cupola  should  spring,  or  as  to  the  exact  date  of 
the  beginning  of  the  work.  The  anonymous  biographer  refers  to  it,  Vita 
Anonima,  pp.  162,  164,  as  if  Brunelleschi  had  had  nothing  to  do  with  it ; 
but  so  important  a  piece  of  construction,  and  so  essential  to  the  effect 
of  the  future  dome,  can  hardly  have  been  carried  out  without  Brunel- 
leschi's  counsel. 

t  Vita  Anonima  di  Brunelleschi,  p.  163.  \  Id.  p.  163. 

§  For  this  first  payment  to  Brunelleschi  for  work  relating  to  the  cu- 


COMPETITION  FOR   THE  DOME.  345 

On  the  i  Qth  of  August  of  the  next  year,  1418,  notice 
was  given  by  public  proclamation  through  the  city  that 
whoever  might  wish  to  make  a  design  or  model  of  the 
vault  of  the  chief  cupola,  or  of  anything  pertaining  to 
the  manner  and  perfection  of  its  construction,  should 
do  so  within  the  next  month ;  and  during  this  time, 
should  he  wish  to  speak  with  the  authorities  in  charge 
of  the  work,  he  should  be  well  and  graciously  heard. 
And  if  any  one  should  make  a  design  or  model  that 
should  be  adopted,  or  in  words  give  advice  that  should 
be  afterwards  followed  in  the  work,  he  should  be  rec- 
ompensed with  two  hundred  golden  florins ;  and  if  any 
one  should  expend  labor  or  make  anything  for  the  said 
object,  even  though  his  model  were  not  adopted,  his 
work  should  be  fairly  paid  for  by  the  Board  of  Works. 
The  term  for  the  preparation  of  designs  and  models 
was  afterwards  extended  to  the  i2th  of  December.* 
Fifteen  models  were  presented ;  one  of  them  was  by 
Brunelleschi,  one  by  his  old  rival,  Ghiberti,  who  was  still 
busy  with  his  long-expected  door,  the  others  were  by 
men  of  less  repute  from  Pisa  and  Siena,  as  well  as 
from  Florence. 

No  record  remains  of  the  deliberations  of  the  opera 

pola,  see  Guasti,  La  Cupola  di  Santa  Maria  del  Fiore,  Firenze,  1857. 
Doc.  xvi.  p.  17. 

*  It  would  seem  that  the  models  were  placed  on  view  within  the 
church  itself,  and  that  on  the  I3th  of  December  a  grand  council  was 
held  for  the  purpose  of  examining  and  considering  them.  This  appears 
to  be  Signer  Guasti's  opinion ;  but  the  documentary  evidence  is  not  so 
clear  as  could  be  desired.  See  Guasti,  La  G<r/0/<2,  etc.,  Doc.  xv.  p.  16; 
and  Prospetto  Cronologico,  p.  191. 


246      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

concerning  these  models.  The  business  was  of  too 
great  moment  to  be  settled  offhand.  Brunelleschi 
and  Ghiberti  were,  however,  as  of  old,  the  real  com- 
petitors, and  during  the  next  year  both  were  employed 
on  new  models  on  a  large  scale.  Brunelleschi  called 
upon  Donatello  for  assistance  in  his  work — a  work 
which  was  the  outcome  of  those  Roman  studies  in 
which  they  had  been  companions  so  many  years  be- 
fore. Donatello  had  already  shown  of  what  value  those 
studies  had  been  to  him  by  works  which  displayed  not 
only  his  mastery  of  the  technical  methods  of  ancient 
sculpture,  but  also  the  influence  of  its  spirit  upon  his 
modes  of  conception.  His  own  clearly  defined  indi- 
vidual genius  had  found  freedom  of  expression  through 
the  study  of  nature  in  the  light  thrown  upon  it  by  the 
models  of  classic  art.  His  poetic  imagination  was 
deeper  than  that  of  Ghiberti,  and  his  conception  of 
character  far  more  vigorous.  His  works  are  the  em- 
bodiments of  the  spirit  of  his  time ;  of  its  longing  at 
once  for  truth  of  representation  and  for  absolute  beauty; 
of  its  mingling  of  pagan  and  of  Christian  conceptions ; 
of  its  new  feeling  concerning  the  life  of  man ;  of  the 
conflict  between  the  authority  of  tradition  and  the  in- 
dependence of  the  individual.  The  mingled  emotions 
and  conflicting  aims  of  the  Renaissance  appear  in 
his  figures,  even  in  figures  of  saints  that  are  but  the 
portraits  of  his  contemporaries.  His  sculpture  is  the 
image  of  the  real  life  of  Florence  when  her  life  was 
richer  and  deeper  than  any  other  in  the  world.  When 


BRUNELLESCHI' S  MODEL. 

he  joined  Brunelleschi  in  the  preparation  of  the  model 
of  the  dome,  he  had  already  been  much  employed  in 
the  making  of  statues  for  the  church,  and  he  had  made 
more  than  one  of  the  figures  which  still  stand  in  the 
niches  of  Or  San  Michele.* 

Brunelleschi  was  also  assisted  by  another  sculptor, 
Nanni  d'  Antonio  di  Banchi,  an  artist  of  little  genius, 
but  whose  work  partook  of  the  inspiration  of  the  time. 
The  model  was  of  brick,  and  it  was  intended  to  show 
"  that  there  was  somebody  in  the  world  who  could  do 
the  work  that  seemed  well-nigh  an  impossibility."  For 
in  it  Brunelleschi  revealed  the  secret  he  had  won  from 
the  study  of  ancient  building — a  secret  which  the  Ro- 
man builders  themselves  had  not  known — that  of  the 
way  in  which  the  dome  might  be  built  without  centring. 
So  far  as  is  known,  no  attempt  of  the  kind  had  been 
previously  made.  It  was  an  invention  of  Brunelleschi's 
own  bold  genius.  It  was  not  surprising  that  even  the 
skilful  builders  of  Florence  were  incredulous  when  they 
first  heard  of  the  project. 

On  the  1 5th  of  November,  1419,  the  Consuls  of  the 
Art  of  Wool,  "  considering  that  the  time  is  at  hand  for 
providing  with  all  solicitude  and  diligence  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  cupola,  and  considering  the  importance 


*  In  1415  Donatello  and  Brunelleschi  had  been  employed  together 
on  a  statue  for  the  Duomo.  Donatello's  first  commission  from  the 
opera  was  as  early  as  1406.  His  most  famous  work,  the  St.  George  of 
the  Or  San  Michele,  was  probably  executed  not  far  from  1420.  He  was 
then  at  the  height  of  his  power.  See  Semper,  Donatello,  pp.  274  seq., 
85  seq. 


248    FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

of  the  work  and  how  much  it  concerns  the  honor  of 
the  commune  and  the  aforesaid  art,"  appointed  four 
citizens  to  act,  for  six  months,  as  "  sollicitatores  et  con- 
ductores  hedifitii  prelibati."  The  precise  nature  of  the 
duties  of  these  four  citizens  is  not  set  forth,  but  it 
would  seem  that  their  appointment  was  intended  to 
strengthen  the  body  of  officials  by  whom  the  momen- 
tous decision  in  regard  to  the  cupola  was  at  length  to 
be  made,  and  to  give  to  it  the  additional  weight  of  their 
authority.* 

During  some  months  the  deliberations  and  discus- 
sions of  the  Board  of  Works  were  frequent  and  earnest, 
and  it  was  probably  in  the  course  of  this  time  that 
Brunelleschi  presented  to  the  four  officials  of  the  cupo- 
la a  description  of  the  mode  in  which  the  dome  was  to 
be  built  according  to  his  model,  a  paper  of  special  in- 
terest in  the  history  of  architecture,  preserved  to  us, 
fortunately,  in  the  pages  of  the  anonymous  biographer,  t 
It  is  a  brief,  clear,  and  precise  statement.  Brunelles- 
chi's  design,  as  set  forth  in  it,  was,  in  fact,  to  build  two 
octagonal  domes,  or  cupolas,  as  he  termed  them,  sep- 
arated by  a  space  wide  enough  for  passage  and  stair- 

*  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc.,  Doc.  i.  p.  9.  The  provision  for  the  remu- 
neration of  these  four  citizens  is  an  illustration  of  a  curious  custom 
of  honorary  recompense  — "  Providentes  insuper,  quod  dicti  quatuor 
eligendi,  in  fine  eorum  offitii,  pro  aliquali  remuneratione  habeant  et 
habere  debeant  a  dicta  Arte  unum  ensenium  extimationis  et  valuta- 
tionis  librorum  decem  solid,  parv.  pro  quolibet  ipsorum,  in  croco  pipere, 
scudellis  et  aliis,  ut  est  in  similibus  usitatum  "  —  "a  crock  of  pepper, 
with  platters  and  other  things,  as  is  customary  in  like  cases." 

t  It  is  given  by  Vasari,  with  some  inconsiderable  verbal  changes,  and 
has  been  several  times  reprinted  in  other  works. 


BRUNELLESCHrS  DESCRIPTION  OF  HIS  DESIGN.     2AQ 

ways.  The  outer  dome  was  to  be  a  shell  covering  the 
inner,  protecting  it  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  securing  to  the  construction 
more  magnificent  and  swelling  lines  than  would  be  pos- 
sible with  a  single  solid  dome.  The  cupolas  were  to 
be  united  by  eight  strong  ribs  of  masonry  at  each  an- 
gle, and  by  sixteen  similar  but  smaller  and  concealed 
ribs  on  the  faces  of  the  vault.  Circles  of  solid  masonry, 
fastened  with  clamps  of  tinned  iron,  and  reinforced  by 
iron  chains,  were  to  bind  the  domes  at  suitable  inter- 
vals. The  ribs  and  the  lower  part  of  each  dome  were 
to  be  made  of  heavy  hewn  stone,  the  upper  parts  of 
light  stone  or  brick.  The  domes  were  to  be  built  with- 
out armature — that  is,  without  support  from  a  frame- 
work of  wood  or  iron.  They  were  to  diminish  in  thick- 
ness as  they  rose,  and  were  to  terminate  at  a  central 
eye  over  which  a  lantern  was  to  be  constructed.  The 
design  had  been  carefully  matured,  and  the  paper  ends 
with  words  of  admirable  good -sense  which  might  well 
be  inscribed  in  every  architect's  book  as  one  of  the 
aphorisms  of  building — "  Above  the  height  of  thirty 
braccia  (57.44  feet)  let  it  be  built  in  the  way  that  shall 
be  advised  and  resolved  upon  by  the  masters  who  shall 
then  be  in  charge  of  it,  for  in  building  practice  teaches 
what  is  to  be  done*  No  more  characteristic  or  remark- 
able design  was  produced  during  the  whole  period  of 
the  Renaissance  than  this  with  which  its  great  archi- 
tectural achievements  began.  It  was  the  manifesto  of 

*  "  Nel  murare  la  pratica  insegna  quello  che  si  ha  da  seguire." 


2^0      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

a  revolution  in  architecture.  It  marks  an  epoch  in  the 
art.  Such  a  dome  as'Brunelleschi  proposed  to  erect 
had  never  been  built.  The  great  domes  of  former 
times — the  dome  of  the  Pantheon,  the  dome  of  Santa 
Sophia  —  had  been  designed  solely  for  their  interior 
effect;  they  were  not  impressive  or  noble  structures 
from  without.  But  Brunelleschi  had  conceived  a  dome 
which,  grand  in  its  interior  aspect,  should  be  even  more 
superb  from  without  than  from  within,  and  which  in  its 
stately  dimensions  and  proportions,  in  its  magnificent 
lift  above  all  the  other  edifices  of  the  city  of  which  it 
formed  the  centre,  should  give  the  fullest  satisfaction 
to  the  desire  common  in  the  Italian  cities  for  a  monu- 
mental expression  of  the  political  unity  and  the  relig- 
ious faith  of  their  people.  His  work  fulfilled  the  high- 
est aim  of  architecture  as  a  civic  art,  in  being  a  political 
symbol,  an  image  of  the  life  of  the  State  itself.  As  such 
no  other  of  the  ultimate  forms  of  architecture  was  so  ap- 
propriate as  the  dome.  Its  absolute  unity  and  symme- 
try, the  beautiful  shape  and  proportions  of  its  broad 
divisions,  the  strong  and  simple  energy  of  its  upwardly 
converging  lines,  all  satisfied  the  sentiment  of  Florence, 
compounded  as  it  was  of  the  most  varied  elements,  civic, 
political,  religious,  and  aesthetic. 

In  March,  1420,  the  models  were  once  more  submit- 
ted to  popular  criticism  and  judgment.  Finally  a  con- 
clusion was  reached,  and  on  the  i6th  of  April  the  con- 
suls of  the  Art,  the  operarii,  and  the  four  officers  of 
the  cupola  chose  Brunelleschi,  Ghiberti,  and  Battista 


THE  HIGH  QUALITIES  OF   THE  FLORENTINES.     251 

d'  Antonio  the  head  master-builders  of  the  Duomo,  to 
oversee  and  direct  the  construction  of  the  cupola,  at  a 
monthly  salary  of  three  golden  florins  each.* 

The  Florentine  men  of  business  had  long  since 
learned  the  importance,  first  of  choosing  capable  and 
trustworthy  agents,  and  then  of  leaving  them  unim- 
peded in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  committed  to 
them.  The  whole  course  of  procedure  in  regard  to 
the  construction  of  the  cupola  indicates  the  foresight 
and  good  judgment  of  the  men  who  had  it  in  charge. 
It  is  a  fine  exhibition  of  the  high  qualities  of  Florence, 
at  a  period  when  her  streets  were  alive  with  the  varied 
activities  of  flourishing  commerce,  when  her  people 
were  still  confident  in  their  own  powers,  full  of  restless 


*  The  words  of  the  vote  run  as  follows  :  "  Nobiles  et  prudentes  viri 
consules  Artis  et  universitatis  Artis  lane  civitatis  Florentie,  una  cum 
officio  operariorum  Opere  Sancte  Marie  del  Fiore,  et  officio  quattuor 
officialium  Cupole  maioris  dicte  ecclesie  ;  considerantes,  qualiter  super 
novi  operis  dicte  Cupole  costructione  fuit  multoties  in  diversis  tempori- 
bus  per  ipsos  officiales  Cupole,  cum  quampluribus  ipsius  operis  intelli- 
gentibus  magistris  et  aliis  hedificatoribus,  praticatum  et  cum  diligentia 
discussum,  et  super  ipso  opere  quamplures  modelli  et  alia  quamplura 
facta  et  ordinata,  et  super  ipso  pluribus  conclusionibus  quamplurium 
intelligentium  intellectis :  volentes  circa  predicta,  prout  ad  presens  con- 
venire  cognoscunt,  providere  et  ipsi  costructioni  fiende  aliquale  princi- 
pium  ordinare  .  .  .  providerunt,  deliberaverunt  atque  eligerunt  infra- 
scriptos  Filippum  ser  Brunelleschi,  Laurentium  Bartoluccii,  et  Batistam 
Antonii  in  provisores  dicti  operis  Cupole  construendi,  et  ad  providen- 
dum,  ordinandum,  et  construi,  ordinari,  fieri  et  hedificari  faciendum,  a 
principio  usque  ad  finem,  ipsam  maiorem  Cupolam  et  hedifitium,  illis 
hedefitiis  magisteriis  muramentis  modis  formis  et  condictionibus,  et 
illis  sunptibus,  et  aliis  quibuscunque,  de  quibus  et  prout  et  sicut  eisdem 
videbitur  convenire  et  expedire  iudicabunt,  predicta  eorum  intelligence 
atque  prudentie  conmictentes  usque  ad  ipsius  Cupole  perfectionem  et 
conplementum."  Guasti,  La  Ctipola,  etc.,  Doc.  Ixxi.  p.  35. 


2r2      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

vivacity  of  mind,  and  when  a  group  of  such  artists  as 
the  modern  world  had  never  seen  were  ennobling  her 
with  the  products  of  the  emulous  rivalry  of  their  gen- 
ius. At  this  time,  says  the  anonymous  biographer  of 
Brunelleschi,  our  city  abounded  with  men  of  worth — 
"era  copiosa  de'  valenti  uomini."  The  list 'of  those 
whom  the  world  still  remembers  shows  the  truth  of 
the  assertion.  In  1420  Brunelleschi  was  forty-three 
years  old,  Ghiberti  four  years  younger ;  Donatello  was 
now  thirty-four,  and  Fra  Angelico  near  the  same  age ; 
Luca  della  Robbia  was  twenty,  and  soon  to  open  new 
and  delightful  ways  for  sculpture ;  Masaccio  was  an 
incomparable  youth  of  nineteen,  Filippo  Lippi  a  boy 
of  eight  or  ten.  Nor  were  these  all ;  and,  though  her 
genius  at  this  time  chiefly  displayed  itsetf  in  the  arts, 
Florence  abounded  in  men  of  letters  of  almost  equal 
eminence  with  her  artists.*  It  was  a  wonderful  as- 
semblage. Each  man  was  stimulated  by  the  work  of 
his  fellows  to  his  best  achievement,  and  the  commu- 
nity was  quick  to  recognize  the  powers  exerted  for  its 


*  Besides  the  artists  mentioned  above,  there  were,  among  those  whose 
names  are  still  noted,  Gentile  da  Fabriano,  born  about  1370;  Antonio 
Squarcialupi,  the  first  musician  of  his  time,  born  in  1380;  Michelozzo 
Michelozzi,  who  built  for  Cosmo  de'  Medici  the  palace  now  known  as 
the  Palazzo  Riccardi,  born  1391 ;  Andrea  del  Castagno,  born  about 
1390 ;  Paolo  Uccello,  born  in  1396.  And  among  the  men  of  letters  were 
many  of  the  most  eminent  humanists,  such  as  Leonardo  Bruni  Aretino, 
scholar  and  statesman,  born  in  1369;  the  universal  genius  Leon  Battis- 
ta  Alberti,  born  in  1404 ;  and  others  of  less  fame,  but  whose  spirits,  kin- 
dled with  the  new  love  of  learning,  gave  lustre  to  Florence,  and  whose 
renown  was  a  part  of  her  glory ;  such  were  Giannozzo  Manetti,  born  in 
1396 ;  Carlo  Aretino,  born  in  1399 ;  and  Matteo  Palmieri,  born  in  1405. 


CRITICAL   SPIRIT  OF  THE  FLORENTINES.       253 

service,  and  to  commend  and  reward,  if  also  to  criti- 
cise, their  work.  Vasari  complains  that  in  Florence 
every  man  claimed  to  know  in  matters  of  art  as  much 
as  the  skilled  masters  themselves.  "  The  city  has  a 
good  eye  and  a  bad  tongue,  and  every  one  speaks  his 
mind,"  said  Vasari's  contemporary,  Borghini,  the  author 
of  //  Rtposo*  But  the  artists  were  the  better  for  this 
free  speaking.  Donatello  gave  as  his  reason  for  return- 
ing to  Florence  from  Padua,  whither  he  had  gone  in 
order  to  make  that  noble  statue  of  Gattamelata  which 
is  still  one  of  the  chief  ornaments  of  the  city,  that  if  he 
stayed  there  longer  he  should  forget  all  he  knew,  so 
flattered  was  he  by  every  one ;  while  in  Florence  he  was 
sure  of  blame,  which  would  make  him  work  and  acquire 
glory,  f  Doubtless  much  of  the  criticism  was  mere  ig- 
norant carping ;  but  no  people,  except  the  Athenian, 
have  ever  been  so  sensitive  as  the  Florentine  to  the 
delight  of  art,  or  so  trained  to  the  study  and  apprecia- 
tion of  such  works  as  day  by  day  made  their  city  more 
beautiful. 

In  the  account  given  by  Brunelleschi's  anonymous 
biographer  of  the  transactions  relating  to  the  cupola 
already  narrated,  the  bare  outline  of  events  is  filled  out 
with  many  lively  strokes  of  personal  delineation.  Some 
of  the  details  which  he  reports  have,  indeed,  a  mythical 
character,  but  they  add  entertainment  to  the  narrative 

*  In  a  letter,  in  1577,  to  Buontalenti  the  architect,  in  Bottari,  Raccolta 
di  Lettere,  ed.  1822,  vol.  i.  p.  243. 
t  Vasari,  ed.  Le  Monnier,  vol.  iii.  p.  258. 


FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

as  well  as* to  its  value  as  a  picture  of  contemporary  feel- 
ing and  belief  concerning  the  execution  of  the  great 
work  in  which  the  interests  of  the  community  were  en- 
gaged. Vasari  adopted  this  narrative  without  substan- 
tial change,  adding  to  it,  after  his  wont,  some  touches 
of  his  own  invention,  and  giving  a  more  modern  form 
to  the  style.  The  story  as  he  tells  it,  after  the  anony- 
mous biographer,  has  long  been  an  accepted  tradition, 
and  as  such  is  part  of  the  history  of  the  Duomo.* 

According  to  his  dramatic  version  of  the  facts,  Bru- 
nelleschi,  having  for  years  devoted  himself  to  solving 
the  problem  of  the  cupola,  had  acquired  consideration 
with  the  overseers  of  the  work  by  displaying,  on  his 
visits  to  Florence,  an  assurance  and  spirit  in  his  dis- 
course concerning  it  which  other  masters  did  not  ex- 
hibit, so  that  at  length  the  Board,  having  resolved  "  to 
see  the  end  of  it,"  wrote  to  him  at  Rome,  praying  him 
to  come  to  consult  with  them.  As  he  had  long  fore- 
seen that  they  must  finally  turn  to  him  as  the  only  man 
who  could  do  the  work,  and  as  he  had  no  other  desire 

*  The  lack,  in  Vasari's  Lives  of  the  Artists,  of  a  critical  discrimina- 
tion between  fact  and  fable,  and  the  carelessness  in  respect  to  dates  and 
other  details  which  they  often  exhibit,  detract  from  their  authority. 
But  these  defects,  due  in  great  part  to  the  literary  conditions  of  the 
period  in  which  they  were  written,  are  more  than  made  up  for  by  Va- 
sari's honest  interest  in  his  subject,  his  zealous  collection  of  such  in- 
formation as  he  could  obtain,  and  his  liveliness  as  a  narrator.  Often 
when  incorrect  in  detail,  he  is  yet  true  in  general  effect.  Myth  and 
tradition  are  frequently  as  important  for  the  correct  appreciation  of  the 
character  of  individuals,  and  of  the  moral  conceptions  of  a  given  epoch, 
as  the  literal  fact.  In  spite  of  errors,  which  may  be  corrected,  and  of 
misjudgments,  that  may  be  reversed,  his  Lives  will  remain  an  invalua- 
ble and  unrivalled  source  of  information  for  all  students  of  Italian  art. 


BRUNELLESCHI'S  ADVICE.  255 

than  to  do  it,  he  at  once  returned  to  Florence.  And 
when  he  had  come,  the  Board  of  Works  of  S.  Maria 
del  Fiore  and  the  Consuls  of  the  Art  of  Wool  being 
assembled,  they  told  Philip  all  the  difficulties  in  regard 
to  the  cupola,  from  the  greatest  to  the  least,  which  were 
made  by  the  master  builders  who  were  there  with  them 
in  his  presence  at  the  audience.  Whereupon  Philip 
said  these  words :  "  Gentlemen,  overseers  of  the  works, 
doubtless  great  things  are  always  difficult  to  accom- 
plish ;  and  if  ever  anything  was  difficult,  this  affair  of 
yours  is  more  difficult  than  you  perchance  are  aware ; 
for  I  do  not  know  that  even  the  ancients  ever  vaulted 
a  vault  so  terrible  as  this  will  be.  And  I,  who  have 
often  thought  on  the  armatures  required  within  and 
without,  and  what  means  could  be  invented  so  that 
men  could  work  on  it  with  safety,  have  never  succeed- 
ed in  solving  the  difficulty,  and  I  am  dismayed  not 
less  by  the  breadth  than  the  height  of  the  building. 
If,  indeed,  it  could  be  covered  with  a  spherical  dome, 
the  mode  might  be  adopted  which  the  Romans  em- 
ployed in  constructing  the  dome  of  the  Pantheon  at 
Rome ;  but  here  we  must  adopt  an  eight  -  sided  de- 
sign, with  such  joints  and  bindings  of  masonry  as 
will  be  most  difficult  to  execute.  But,  remembering 
that  this  temple  is  dedicated  to  God  and  to  the  Vir- 
gin, I  have  confidence  that  we,  setting  to  work  in 
memory  of  him,  He  will  not  fail  to  infuse  knowledge 
where  it  falls  short,  and  to  supply  strength  and  wis- 
dom and  intelligence  to  whosoever  may  undertake 


256     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

the  task.     But  in  what  can  I  assist  you,  the  work  not 
being  mine  ?" 

Brunelleschi  finished  his  address,  according  to  Vasa- 
ri's  report,  by  recommending  that  the  best  architects, 
not  merely  Tuscan  and  Italian,  but  German  and  French, 
or  of  whatever  nation,  should  be  summoned  to  meet  at 
Florence  to  consider  and  advise  how  the  work  might 
best  be  accomplished.  This  counsel  pleased  the  con- 
suls and  the  Board  of  Works,  and  Vasari  goes  on  to 
tell  how  the  Florentine  merchants  who  were  estab- 
lished in  France,  in  Germany,  in  England,  and  in 
Spain  were  commissioned  to  obtain  from  the  rulers  of 
those  countries  the  most  experienced  and  valiant  gen- 
iuses in  the  land,  and  to  spend  whatever  sum  of  money 
might  be  needed  for  sending  them  to  Florence.  Much 
time  passed  before  this  could  be  done ;  but,  at  last,  in 
1420,  all  these  masters  from  beyond  the  mountains  were 
assembled  in  Florence,  together  with  those  of  Tuscany, 
and  all  the  ingenious  architects  of  the  city,  among  them 
Brunelleschi  himself.  On  a  certain  day  they  all  met  at 
the  works  of  S.  Maria  del  Fiore,  together  with  the  con- 
suls and  the  Board  of  Works  and  a  choice  of  the  most 
intelligent  citizens,  and  then  one  after  another  spoke 
his  mind  as  to  the  mode  in  which  the  dome  might  be 
built.  "  It  was  a  fine  thing  to  hear  the  strange  and  di- 
verse opinions  on  the  matter."  Some  advised  to  build 
up  a  structure  from  the  ground  to  support  the  cupola 
while  it  was  in  process  of  building.  Others,  for  the 
same  end,  proposed  heaping  up  a  high  mound  of  earth, 


BRUNELLESCHFS  DIFFICULTIES.  257 

in  which  pieces  of  money  should  be  buried,  so  that 
when  the  work  was  done  the  common  people  would 
carry  away  the  earth  for  the  sake  of  what  they  might 
find  in  it.  Others,  again,  urged  that  the  cupola  be  built 
of  pumice-stone  for  the  sake  of  lightness.  Only  Philip 
said  that  the  dome  could  be  built  without  any  such 
support  of  timber  or  masonry  or  earth,  and  was  laughed 
at  by  all  for  such  a  wild  and  impracticable  notion ;  and, 
growing  hot  in  the  explanation  and  defence  of  his  plan 
of  construction,  and  being  told  to  go,  but  not  consent- 
ing, he  was  at  last  carried  by  main  force  from  the  as- 
sembly— "  f u  portato  di  peso  f uori " — all  men  holding 
him  stark  mad.  And  Philip  was  accustomed  to  say 
afterwards  that  he  was  ashamed  at  this  time  to  go  about 
Florence,  for  fear  of  hearing  it  said, "  See  that  fool  there, 
who  talks  so  wildly."  The  overseers  of  the  work  were 
distracted  by  the  bewildering  diversity  of  councils,  and 
"  Philip,  who  had  spent  so  many  years  in  studies  for  the 
sake  of  having  this  work,  knew  not  what  to  do,  and  was 
oftentimes  tempted  to  depart  from  Florence.  Yet,  wish- 
ing to  win  his  object,  he  armed  himself  with  patience, 
as  was  needful,  having  so  much  to  endure,  for  he  knew 
the  brains  of  that  city  never  stood  long  fixed  on  one 
resolve.  Philip  might  have  shown  a  little  model  which 
he  had  below,  but  he  did  not  wish  to  show  it;  being 
aware  of  the  small  understanding  of  the  consuls,  the 
envy  of  the  workmen,  and  the  little  stability  of  the  citi- 
zens, who  favored  now  this,  now  that,  according  to  their 
pleasure.  What,  then,  Philip  had  not  been  able  to  do 

17 


258      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

in  the  assembly  he  began  to  try  with  individuals ;  and, 
speaking  now  to  this  consul,  now  to  this  member  of  the 
Board  of  Works,  and  in  like  wise  to  many  citizens,  show- 
ing them  part  of  his  design,  he  brought  them  to  deter- 
mine to  assign  the  work  either  to  him  or  to  one  of  the 
foreigners.  Whereby  the  consuls  and  the  Board  of 
Works  and  the  citizens  being  encouraged,  they  caused 
a  new  assembly  to  be  held,  and  the  architects  disputed 
of  the  matter ;  but  they  were  all  beaten  down  and  over- 
come by  Philip  with  abundant  reasons.  And  here  it  is 
said  that  the  dispute  about  the  egg  arose  in  this  man- 
ner." The  other  architects  urged  him  to  explain  his 
scheme  in  detail,  and  to  show  them  the  model  he  had 
made  of  the  structure ;  but  this  he  refused,  and  finally 
proposed  to  them  that  the  man  who  could  prove  his 
capacity  by  making  an  egg  stand  on  end  on  a  smooth 
bit  of  marble  should  build  the  cupola.  To  this  they 
assented.  All  tried  in  vain ;  and  then  Philip,  taking  the 
egg  and  striking  it  upon  the  marble,  made  it  stand. 
The  others,  offended,  declared  they  could  have  done  as 
much.  "Ay,"  said  Philip,  "  and  so,  after  seeing  my  mod- 
el, you  could  build  the  cupola." 

It  was  accordingly  resolved  that  he  should  have 
charge  of  the  conduct  of  the  work,  and  he  was  di- 
rected to  give  fuller  information  concerning  his  plans 
to  the  consuls  and  Board  of  Works.*  He  according- 

*  This  myth  of  the  egg  is  not  in  the  Vita  Anonima,  and  the  author 
gives  another  account  of  the  preparation  of  the  written  statement.  Va- 
sari  may  have  borrowed  the  illustration  from  the  story  told  of  Colum- 
bus. 


THE  WORK  ASSIGNED   TO  BRUNELLESCHI. 

ly,  going  home,  wrote  off  a  statement  which  he  pre- 
sented the  next  morning  to  the  assembly  of  officials, 
"and  although  they  were  incompetent  to  judge  of  it, 
yet,  seeing  Philip's  readiness  of  mind,  and  that  none 
of  the  architects  marched  so  boldly  as  he — '  non  an- 
dava  con  miglior  gambe'  —  for  he  showed  himself 
as  sure  of  what  he  said  as  if  he  had  already  built 
ten  cupolas,  they  proposed  to  give  it  to  him,  but  first 
desired  to  see,  by  experiment  on  a  small  scale,  how 
the  vaulting  could  be  done  without  armature,  for  in  all 
other  respects  they  approved  his  design.  In  this  re- 
spect fortune  was  favorable,"  for,  as  Vasari  goes  on  to 
relate,  Brunelleschi  was  at  this  time  engaged  in  build- 
ing a  chapel  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Felicita,  and  an- 
other in  Santo  Jacopo  sopr'  Arno,  in  both  of  which  he 
showed  how  what  he  proposed  could  be  done.  Thus 
assured,  the  overseers  of  the  work  assigned  to  him  the 
building  of  the  cupola  to  the  height  of  twelve  braccia,* 
not  binding  themselves  to  more  before  they  saw  how 
the  work  would  succeed.  To  this  Philip  agreed,  though 
disappointed  at  the  condition  imposed.  When  the  art- 
ists and  the  citizens  learned  that  the  work  had  been 
committed  to  Philip,  to  some  it  seemed  well,  to  others 
ill ;  and  a  party  was  formed  among  them  who  remon- 
strated with  the  consuls  and  the  Board  of  Works,  rep- 
resenting that  "  such  a  work  ought  not  to  be  intrusted 
to  a  single  person,  and  that  if  there  were  a  lack  of  com- 

*  A  Florentine  braccia  equals  very  nearly  i  foot  1 1  inches,  exactly 
1.9148  feet,  or  met.  0.5835. 


26o      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

petent  men,  while  in  truth  there  was  abundance  of  them, 
the  decision  might  be  excused ;  but  that  it  did  not  com- 
port with  the  honor  of  the  city,  seeing  that  if  any  mis- 
fortune were  to  happen,  such  as  sometimes  occurs  in 
building,  they  would  be  blamed  as  having  given  too 
heavy  a  charge  to  one  man,  without  consideration  of  the 
harm  and  shame  that  might  result  from  it  to  the  public, 
and  that,  therefore,  in  order  to  curb  the  ardor  (furore) 
of  Philip,  it  were  well  to  associate  some  one  with  him 
in  the  work."  Accordingly,  Ghiberti  and  Battista 
d'  Antonio  were  appointed  as  his  associates.  "  What 
despair  and  bitterness  took  possession  of  Philip,  on 
learning  of  this,  may  be  known  from  the  fact  that  he 
was  on  the  point  of  flying  from  Florence ;  and  if  it  had 
not  been  for  Donate  and  Luca  della  Robbia,  who  com- 
forted him,  he  would  have  gone  distracted." 

There  is,  doubtless,  a  large  foundation  of  truth  in  the 
representation  by  his  biographers  of  the  scepticism 
with  which  Brunelleschi's  unheard-of  and  astonishing 
project  was  received,  and  of  the  difficulty  with  which 
he  overcame  the  opposition  to  his  scheme.*  The  biog- 

*  Among  the  persons  who  were  paid  for  their  work  or  advice  con- 
cerning the  cupola  in  April,  1420,  was  Messer  Giovanni  di  Gherardo  of 
Prato.  He  received  three  florins,  while  Donatello  and  Pesello,  the 
well-known  painter,  had  but  one.  In  the  same  vote  by  which  Brunel- 
leschi  and  his  two  associates  were  appointed  overseers  of  the  con- 
struction of  the  dome  he  was  chosen  as  second  substitute,  Pesello  being 
the  first,  in  case  either  of  the  three  should  resign  or  be  removed  by 
death  or  other  circumstance.  He  was  at  this  time  the  public  reader 
of  Dante  at  the  University  of  Florence,  a  position  which  he  held  from 
1417  till  1425.  He  had  no  faith  in  Brunelleschi's  design,  and  addressed 
a  scurrilous  sonnet  to  him,  in  ridicule  of  the  project,  which  gives  no 


RIVAL  CLAIMS  OF  GHIBERTI.  26l 

raphers  may  also  be  trusted  in  their  representation 
of  the  eagerness  with  which  Ghiberti's  claim  to  share 
in  the  work  on  equal  terms  was  urged,  and  of  the 
intense  spirit  of  partisanship  displayed  by  the  adhe- 
rents of  each  master.  There  were  division  of  opinion 
and  hot  dispute  among  the  citizens  at  large,  as  well  as 
among  the  members  of  the  Art  of  Wool.  "  The  city 
kept  the  feeling  about  the  bronze  doors  " — teneva  dello 
umore  delle  porte  di  bronzo — is  the  expressive  phrase 
of  the  anonymous  biographer.  The  old  rivalry  had 
slept  for  eighteen  years,  but  now  blazed  up  with  more 
than  its  ancient  heat.  Brunelleschi  and  his  friends 
might  well  resent  the  pretensions  of  Ghiberti.  What 
experience  had  he  as  an  architect,  what  study  had  he 
given  to  the  problems  of  construction  involved  in  the 

evidence  that  the  poetic  style  of  the  author  had  been  affected  by  the 
study  of  the  Divine  Comedy.  It  begins — 

"  O  fonte  fonda  e  nizza  d'  ignoranza, 

Pauper  animale  et  insensibile," 

and  goes  on  to  say  that  no  man  can  do  the  impossible,  as  Brunelleschi 
is  attempting  to  do — Brunelleschi,  who  knows  neither  how  to  design 
nor  to  construct ; 

"  Che  poco  sai  ordire  e  vie  men  tessere." 

To  this  Brunelleschi  replied  in  a  sonnet  that  opens  with  a  fine  verse 
that  reminds  one  of  Michelangelo  : 

"  Quando  dall'  alto  ci  e  dato  speranza," 

"  When  from  on  high  we  are  inspired  with  hope,  man  becomes  capable 
of  achieving  things  not  possible  to  unassisted  human  powers,  and  thus 
what  seems  impossible  to  a  dull  creature  like  Giovanni  shall  yet  come 
to  pass."  In  1426  Giovanni  di  Gherardo  addressed  a  remonstrance  to 
the  Board  of  Works  in  regard  to  the  mode  of  construction  adopted  by 
Brunelleschi.  This  remonstrance  and  the  sonnets  have  been  edited 
and  illustrated  by  Guasti,  in  his  Belle  Arti.  Opuscoli  Descrtttivi  e  Biogra- 
fict,  Florence,  1874,  pp.  107-129. 


262     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

work  at  hand,  to  justify  the  notion  that  he  was  compe- 
tent to  perform  it  ?  But  Ghiberti  and  his  party  were  too 
strong  to  be  resisted,  and  Brunelleschi  wras  compelled 
to  stifle  his  indignation  at  having  his  rival  associated 
with  him  at  an  equal  salary,  and  with  the  prospect  of 
dividing  with  him  the  credit  of  an  achievement  which 
would  belong  rightfully  wholly  to  himself.  He  was 
not  of  a  temper,  however,  to  yield  to  discouragement. 
He  had  reached  the  point  of  desire  of  many  years ; 
and  though  he  missed  the  complete  fulfilment  of  hope, 
he  might  trust  that  what  was  amiss  in  the  beginning 
would  be  righted  in  the  progress  of  the  undertaking. 

On  the  day  of  his  appointment  and  that  of  his  two 
associates,  eight  master  builders  were  also  chosen  for 
the  work.  Preparations  for  building  were  at  once  be- 
gun. The  necessary  materials  were  collected;  frame- 
works and  stagings  were  constructed;  and  on  the  yth 
of  August,  in  the  morning,  the  masons  were  set  to 
\vork,  the  sum  of  three  lire  nine  soldi  and  four  denari 
being  spent  for  a  cask  of  red  wine,  a  flask  of  Trebia- 
no,  bread,  and  melons,  for  a  collation  to  celebrate  the 
event*  The  work,  once  begun,  was  steadily  prose- 
cuted. Brunelleschi's  active  genius  employed  itself 
not  only  in  the  general  oversight,  but  in  attention  to 
every  detail.  He  invented  a  new  and  more  service- 
able machine  for  hoisting  the  materials  from  the 
ground  to  the  great  height  to  which  they  had  to  be 

*  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc.,  Doc.  239,  p.  85.  "  Trebbiano,  a  kind  of  pre- 
cious wine  in  Italic."  Florio,  Worlde  of  Wordes. 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  BUILDING.  263 

raised;*  he  selected  the  clay  and  devised  new  moulds 
for  the  bricks  used  in  construction ;  t  he  visited  the 
quarries  from  which  stone  was  brought,  and  directed 
the  quarrying  and  the  transport  of  the  blocks ;  \  he 
made  models  for  the  castings  that  were  required,  and 
was  ready  with  inventive  wit  to  meet  every  difficulty  in 
construction  as  it  arose,  for,  as  he  had  said,  "  la  pratica 
insegno  tjuella  che  si  ebbe  da  seguire." 

On  the  7th  of  July,  1422,  the  day  of  the  vigil  of  St. 
John  Baptist,  the  walls  of  the  cupola  had  risen  so  high 
that  they  were  illuminated  in  celebration  of  the  feast, 
and  lifted  for  the  first  time  that  circlet  of  light  over  the 
city  which,  seen  in  the  night  from  Fiesole  or  San  Mini- 
ato,  looks  like  the  crown  of  the  fair  city  reposing  in  the 
darkness  below.  §  In  the  course  of  1423,  Brunelleschi 

made  a  model  of  the  great  chain  of  timber  and  iron 

• 

which  was  to  gird  and  resist  the  thrust  of  the  inner 
dome ;  and  for  this  model  of  one  of  the  essential  features 
of  his  design,  and  one  of  his  most  ingenious  devices,  he 
received  a  gratuity  from  the  opera  of  one  hundred  gold- 
en florins.  ||  The  building  of  the  chain  was  not,  how- 
ever, begun  till  two  years  later,  and  Brunelleschi  deter- 
mined not  to  lose  the  opportunity  it  afforded  to  exhibit 

*  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc.,  Doc.  123  seq.  pp.  58  seq.  "  Nessuna  cosa  fu 
quantunque  difficile  e  aspra,  la  quale  egli  non  rendesse  facile  e  piana ; 
e  lo  mostro  nel  tirare  i  pesi  per  via  di  contrapesi  e  ruote,  che  un  sol 
bue  tirava  quanto  arebbono  appena  tirata  sei  paia."  Vasari,  iii.  220. 

t  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc.,  Doc.  169,  p.  69. 

\  Id.  Doc.  109,  p.  53.  §  Id.  Doc.  240,  p.  85. 

||  In  La  Metropolitana  Fiorentina  Illustrata,  Firenze,  1820,  Tavola  vii., 
a  profile  and  a  plan  of  a  section  of  the  chain  are  given. 


264     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

Ghiberti's  incompetence  and  to  get  rid  of  him  as  an 
associate.*  The  workmen  had  come  to  depend  entire- 
ly on  Brunelleschi's  directions,  and  without  them  were 
unable  to  proceed.  Aware  of  this,  Brunelleschi,  as  his 
anonymous  biographer  reports,  one  morning  stayed  in 
bed,  feigning  illness  and  complaining  of  severe  pain  in 
the  side,  so  that  he  had  hot  cloths  and  other  remedies 
applied.  In  his  absence  from  the  works,  where  he  al- 
ways was  wont  to  be  the  first-comer,  the  workmen  were 
at  a  loss  what  to  do,  and,  in  their  perplexity,  resorted  to 
Ghiberti  for  instructions.  He,  unable  to  direct  them, 
bade  them  seek  directions  from  Philip,  but  Philip  made 
believe  to  be  too  ill  to  see  them,  and  things  went  so  far 
that  the  works  came  in  great  part  to  a  stop,  whereat 
there  was  confusion  enough  at  the  opera.  The  friends 
of  Philip  said,  "  Surely  Lorenzo  is  here.  If  Philip  is  ill, 
it  is  not  his  fault ;  no  one  regrets  it  more  than  he."  And 
those  of  the  other  side  charged  Philip  with  pretending 
to  be  ill  because  he  repented  of  having  entered  on  the 
undertaking,  and  would  fain  find  excuse  to  be  rid  of  it. 
After  some  days,  Philip,  with  apparent  difficulty,  went 
to  the  office  of  the  works,  and  said  that  this  might  hap- 
pen again  to  him  if  God  willed,  or  even  to  Lorenzo, 
and  that  it  were  well,  in  view  of  this  chance,  that  the 
charge  of  the  special  works  to  be  done  should  be  di- 
vided, so  that  if  either  of  them  were  incapacitated  the 
work  should  not  come  to  a  stop.  He  went  on  to  say 

*  "  Filippo  fece  pensiero  se  con  industria  e'  si  poteva  levare  da  dosso 
Lorenzo."     Vita  Anonima,  p.  175. 


GHIBERTI' S  INCOMPETENCE. 


265 


that  there  were  now  two  things  pressing  to  be  done — 
one,  the  scaffolds  for  the  workmen  in  rounding  the  cu- 
pola, and  the  oversight  of  the  masonry ;  the  other,  the 
chain  to  gird  it — and  that  Lorenzo  might  take  in  charge 
either  he  chose.  Lorenzo  was  obliged  to  assent  to 
this  suggestion,  and  chose  the  making  of  the  chain,  be- 
cause there  was  one  in  the  cupola  of  the  baptistery 
which  he  thought  he  could  imitate.  To  this  Philip 
made  no  objection,  and  Ghiberti  proceeded  to  direct 
the  construction  of  a  chain.  When  the  work  was  fin- 
ished, Philip,  seeing  that  it  was  good  for  nothing,  showed 
to  the  Board  of  Works  that  it  would  not  answer  its  pur- 
pose, so  that  they  resolved  it  should  be  done  away  with, 
and  Philip  was  ordered  to  make  the  chain  according 
to  his  own  design.* 

The  fact  of  the  exposure,  about  this  time,  of  the  in- 
competence of  Ghiberti  receives  confirmation  from  the 
records.  The  salaries  of  Brunelleschi  and  Ghiberti 
had  run  on  for  five  .years  at  the  rate  at  which  they  had 
been  originally  fixed;  but  on  the  28th  of  June,  1425,  a 
vote  was  passed  by  the  Board  of  Works  that  Ghiberti's 
salary  should  cease  from  the  first  day  of  the  coming 
July.  Now  this  vote,  read  in  the  light  of  the  story,  is 
in  curiously  close  relation  with  an  entry  in  the  records 
on  the  preceding  6th  of  June,  of  the  cost  of  wine  bought 
for  the  masters  and  workmen  of  the  opera  "when  the  . 
chain  was  begun."  It  is  a  fair  inference  that  the  stop- 

*  Vita  Anonima,  pp.  175-178.   Vasari  repeats  the  story  after  the  earlier 
biographer,  with  some  characteristic  amplifications,  vol.  iii.  pp.  214-219. 


266      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

page  of  his  salary  was  the  result  of  Ghiberti's  failure  in 
the  execution  of  the  chain.  The  next  January,  indeed, 
his  salary  was  renewed  at  the  old  rate,  of  three  florins 
a  month,  on  condition  that  he  should  spend  at  the 
works  at  least  one  hour  of  every  working  day,  while 
that  of  Brunelleschi  was  increased  almost  threefold — to 
one  hundred  florins  a  year,  on  condition  that  he  should 
give  his  whole  time  to  the  edifice.*  This  arrangement 
continued  till  1432,  when  Ghiberti's  salary  ends,  and  his 
connection  with  the  work  apparently  comes  to  a  close.! 

*  The  retention  of  Ghiberti  on  the  work  may  have  been  a  piece  of 
policy  to  prevent  his  active  opposition,  and  to  secure  the  voices  of  his 
friends.  In  1424  the  door  for  the  baptistery,  on  which  he  had  been  at 
work  so  long,  was  completed  and  set  in  place.  It  received  general  and 
just  admiration,  and  confirmed  his  repute  as  the  first  master  of  his  art. 
The  account  which  he  gives  at  the  end  of  his  Second  Commentary  of 
his  share  in  the  building  of  the  dome  is  neither  candid  nor  correct,  and 
its  arrogant  tone  indicates  the  disposition  of  the  man.  "  Few  things 
of  importance  have  been  done  in  our  city  which  were  not  designed  or 
ordered  by  my  hand.  And  specially  in  the  building  of  the  tribune  [cu- 
pola] Philip  and  I  were  associates  \concorrentt\  for  eighteen  years  at  the 
same  salary."  Vasari,  ed.  Le  Monnier,  vol.  i.  p.  xxxvii.  The  true  state- 
ment would  have  been  "  associates  for  twelve  years,  and  during  the  first 
five  our  salaries  were  the  same,  while  during  the  remaining  years  mine 
was  little  more  than  a  third  of  his." 

The  difficulty  of  establishing  a  correct  chronology  for  the  lives  of 
the  artists,  for  which  Vasari,  with  his  indifference  to  exactness,  is  our 
chief  authority,  is  increased  by  the  carelessness  of  editors.  In  a  note 
in  his  new  edition  of  Vasari,  Florence,  1878,  tomo  ii.  p.  358,  Milanesi 
states  that  Ghiberti  continued  to  be  the  associate  of  Brunelleschi  in 
the  work  of  the  cupola  till  June,  1446.  But  Brunelleschi  died  in  April 
of  that  year,  and  Ghiberti's  connection  with  the  work  had  terminated 
fourteen  years  previously.  Milanesi  adds  to  the  confusion  by  going  on 
to  state  that  Brunelleschi  was  chosen  sole  overseer  of  the  cupola  in 
1443.  In  that  year  he  was  appointed  sole  overseer  of  the  lantern 
which  was  to  be  erected  upon  the  dome.  He  had  long  been  sole  over- 
seer of  the  cupola. 

t  Guasti,  La  Ctipola,  etc.,  Doc.  74,  p.  38 ;  Doc.  242,  p.  85  ;  Doc.  75-84, 
PP-  38-45- 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  DOME.  267 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1425,  in  January  (it  is 
to  be  remembered  that  the  Florentine  year  began  in 
March),  Brunelleschi  and  Ghiberti,  together  with  one 
of  the  Officials  of  the  Cupola  and  the  head-master  of  the 
works,  united  in  an  important  report  to  the  Board,  as 
to  the  work  in  progress  and  that  which  was  to  be  next 
undertaken.  It  is  plain  from  it  that  the  difficulties  of 
building  such  a  vault  without  centring  were  increasing 
as  the  curve  ascended.  On  the  inner  side  of  the  vault 
a  parapet  of  planks  was  to  be  made,  to  protect  the  scaf- 
folding and  to  cut  off  the  sight  of  the  masters  from  the 
void  beneath  them,  for  their  greater  security.  "  We  say 
nothing  of  centring,"  say  the  builders,  "  not  that  it 
might  not  have  given  greater  strength  and  beauty  to 
the  work,"  which  may  well  be  doubted,  "  but,  not  hav- 
ing been  started  with,  a  centring  would  now  be  un- 
desirable, and  could  hardly  be  made  without  arma- 
ture, for  the  sake  of  avoiding  which  the  centring  was 
dispensed  with  at  the  beginning."  *  Brunelleschi's  gen- 
ius was  sufficient  to  overcome  all  the  difficulties  met 
with  in  accomplishing  the  bold  experiment  which  he 
had  devised,  and  which  in  its  kind  still  remains  without 
parallel. 

Many  entries  in  the  records  afford  a  lively  impres- 
sion of  scenes  and  incidents  connected  with  the  build- 

*  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc.,  Doc.  75,  p.  38.  The  vote  in  which  this  re- 
port is  included  was  first  printed  by  Nelli,  Piante  ed  Alzati  di  S.  Maria 
del  Fiore,  Firenze,  1765  ;  afterwards  in  the  Vita  di  F Hippo  di  Ser  Bru- 
nellesco,  by  Baldinucci,  ed.  Moreni,  Firenze,  1812,  and  again  in  La  Metro- 
politana  Fiorentina,  Firenze,  1820. 


268    FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

ing.  With  all  the  precautions  that  could  be  taken,  the 
exposure  of  the  workmen  to  the  risk  of  falling  was 
great  Two  men  were  thus  killed  in  the  first  year  of 
the  work.  As  the  dome  rose,  the  danger  increased ;  and 
a  provision  was  made  that  any  of  the  masters  or  labor- 
ers who  preferred  to  work  below  might  do  so,  but  at 
wages  one  quarter  less.  Brunelleschi,  finding  that,  owing 
to  the  vast  height  of  the  edifice,  the  builders  lost  much 
time  in  going  down  for  food  and  drink,  arranged  a 
cook-shop,  and  stalls  for  the  sale  of  bread  and  wine,  in 
the  cupola  itself.  Thenceforth  no  one  was  allowed  to 
go  down  from  his  work  oftener  than  once  a  day.  But 
the  supply  of  wine  in  the  cupola  caused  a  new  danger, 
and  an  order  was  issued  by  the  Board  that,  "considering 
the  risks  which  may  daily  threaten  the  master  masons 
who  are  employed  on  the  wall  of  the  cupola,  on  ac- 
count of  the  wine  that  is  necessarily  kept  in  the  cupola, 
from  this  time  forth  the  clerk  of  the  works  shall  not 
allow  any  wine  to  be  brought  up  which  has  not  been 
diluted  with  at  least  one  third  of  water."  But  the  work- 
men were  reckless,  and  amused  themselves,  among  other 
ways,  in  letting  themselves  and  each  other  down  on  the 
outside  of  the  dome  in  mere  sport,  or  to  take  young 
birds  from  their  nests,  till  at  length  the  practice  was 
forbidden  by  an  order  of  the  Board. 

So  year  by  year  the  work  went  on ;  the  walls  slowly 
rounding  upwards.  During  the  first  years  of  the  build- 
ing of  the  dome,  Florence  was  enjoying  a  period  of  un- 
wonted peace  and  prosperity.  She  was  tranquil  at 


WAR  ABROAD,  DEPRESSION  AT  HOME.  369 

home,  and  without  war  abroad.  Her  trade  was  flour- 
ishing, and  her  commerce  extending.  But  in  1423  the 
encroachments  of  Filippo  Maria  Visconti  of  Milan 
forced  a  war  upon  her,  which,  beginning  with  disaster, 
soon  told  with  terrible  effect  upon  her  resources  and 
her  spirit.  It  was,  indeed,  carried  on,  for  the  most  part, 
with  mercenary  troops,  and  cost  the  city  far  more  in 
money  and  in  honor  than  in  the  blood  of  her  people. 
The  republic  had  lost  the  art  of  defending  herself  with 
the  strong  arm  of  her  own  children.  She  had  become 
dependent  upon  hireling  soldiery;  and  such  depend- 
ence, sign  as  it  was  of  the  decline  of  public  spirit  and  of 
private  character,  was  a  forerunner  of  the  long  series  of 
political  calamities  which  was  to  end  in  her  fall.  The 
burden  of  the  war  pressed  heavily  upon  all  classes,  es- 
pecially upon  the  poor.  The  taxes  became  heavier  and 
heavier;  forced  loans  were  resorted  to;  in  1425  many  of 
the  leading  bankers  and  merchants  were  compelled  to 
fail ;  the  revenues  of  the  opera  of  the  Duomo  fell  off, 
and  in  April,  1426,  it  was  resolved  to  dismiss  twenty- 
five  out  of  forty-three  master  builders  employed,  and  to 
diminish  other  expenses  of  the  work.*  Peace  was  made 
in  1428.  A  new  and  more  equitable  system  of  taxation 
had  been  adopted,  and  the  city  began  to  rejoice  in  the 
return  of  prosperity.  But  the  breathing-spell  was  short. 
One  war  was  scarcely  ended  before  another  began.  In 
1430  the  Florentines  wrere  besieging  their  beautiful 
neighbor  Lucca,  and  distressing  her  territory  with  even 

*  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc.,  Doc.  220,  p.  81. 


270      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

more  than  the  usual  barbarity  of  war  in  which  the  sol- 
diers were  mere  hired  ruffians.  "  At  this  time  there 
was  in  Florence,"  says  Machiavelli,  "  an  eminent  archi- 
tect, named  Philip  di  Ser  Brunellesco,  of  whose  works 
our  city  is  full,  so  that  he  deserved  that  after  his  death 
his  image  in  marble  should  be  placed  in  the  chief  tem- 
ple of  Florence,  with  an  inscription  beneath,  which  still, 
to  such  as  read  it,  bears  witness  of  his  virtues.  He 
showed  how  Lucca  might  be  overflowed,  taking  into 
consideration  the  site  of  the  city  and  the  bed  of  the 
river  Serchio,  and  finally  induced  the  Ten*  to  order 
that  the  attempt  be  made.  From  which  proceeded 
naught  but  confusion  to  our  camp,  and  security  to  the 
enemy."  t  Brunelleschi  might  better  have  kept  to  his 
own  work,  to  which  he  returned  on  the  i2th  of  June, 
after  an  absence  of  a  hundred  days.  His  failure  in  the 
field  did  him  no  service  in  Florence ;  \  Ghiberti  remained 
always  jealous ;  and  there  were  always  people  about, 
says  the  anonymous  biographer,  "  who  made  a  circle," 
or,  in  modern  phrase, "  a  ring,"  and  gave  him  much  trou- 


*  The  Ten  elected  commissioners  in  charge  of  the  war — "  i  Dieci 
della  Guerra." 

t  Machiavelli,  Istorie  Florentine,  lib.  iv.  §  23. 

\  Giovanni  Cavalcanti,  the  fair-minded  and  trustworthy  contempo- 
rary chronicler  of  these  times,  writes,  "  Egli  ebbono  alcuni  nostri  fantas- 
tichi,  intra  quali  fu  Filippo  di  Ser  Brunellesco,  i  quali  consigliorno  con 
la  loro  geometria  falsa  e  bugiarda,  non  in  se,  ma  nell'  altrui  ignoranza, 
mostrorno  che  la  citta  di  Lucca  si  poteva  allagare ;"  quoted  by  Gervi- 
nus,  Geschichte  der  florentinischen  Historiographie,  p.  78.  Poggio,  in 
his  Hist.  Florentini  Populi,  lib.  vi.,  in  Muratori,  Rer.  Ital.  Script,  torn, 
xx.  p.  363,  gives  a  clear  account  of  the  project  of  Brunelleschi — "  maxi- 
mo  omnium  ejus  tempestatis  architecto  " — and  of  its  failure. 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  DOME. 

ble  with  their  continual  gossip  and  false  reports,  sow- 
ing dissatisfaction  among  the  master  workmen.  The 
result  was  a  strike  among  the  masters  for  higher  wages, 
whereupon,  one  Saturday  night,  Philip  dismissed  them 
all,  to  the  number  of  forty  masters  and  apprentices,  and 
engaged  eight  or  ten  Lombard  masons  in  their  place. 
The  strikers,  finding  that  they  were  not  indispensable 
to  the  construction,  as  they  had  fancied,  and  lamenting 
the  loss  of  their  places,  made  humble  submission,  and, 
after  eleven  weeks,  thirty-nine  of  them  were  taken  again 
upon  the  works.* 

Although  they  were  engaged  in  such  costly  under- 
takings abroad,  and  the  war  went  against  them,  yet  the 
Florentines,  as  Machiavelli  says,  "  did  not  fail  to  adorn 
their  city."  The  work  on  the  Duomo  was  now  active- 
ly pushed  forward.  The  second  chain  to  resist  the 
thrust  of  the  inner  cupola  was  constructed,  and  in  1432 
the  dome  had  reached  such  a  height  that  Brunelleschi 
was  ordered  to  make  a  model  of  the  closing  of  its  sum- 
mit, and  also  a  model  of  the  lantern  that  was  to  stand 
on  it,  in  order  that  full  consideration  might  be  given 
to  the  work,  and  due  provision  for  it  made  in  advance. 
Two  years  more  passed,  years  in  which  the  city  was 
busied  with  public  affairs  of  great  concern  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  when  at  length,  on  the  i2th  of  June,  1434, 


*  The  story  first  told  by  the  anonymous  writer,  p.  180,  is  retold  with 
more  detail  by  Vasari,  pp.  218,  219,  and  is  confirmed  by  two  documents 
of  December  12  and  February  27,  1430  (Florentine  style),  in  Guasti, 
La  Cupola,  etc.,  p.  83. 


2 72     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

just  fourteen  years  from  its  beginning,  the  cupola  closed 
over  the  central  space  of  the  Duomo.*  It  had  grown 
slowly,  marvellous  in  the  eyes  of  all  beholders,  who  saw 
its  walls  rise  curving  over  the  void  without  apparent 
support,  held  suspended  in  the  air  as  if  by  miracle. 
Brunelleschi's  fame  was  secure;  henceforth  his  work 
was  chief  part  of  Florence.  But  though  the  cupola  had 
reached  its  wished-for  end — "devenisse  ad  optatum 
finem  sue  clausure  " — something  remained  still  to  be 
done  upon  it  for  its  perfect  completion,  and  other  work 
was  required  to  bring  the  whole  church  into  fit  condi- 
tion for  public  use,  which  was  now  ardently  desired  by 
the  people  of  the  city.  The  opera,  therefore,  determined 
to  cover  the  roofs  of  the  tribunes  with  lead,  to  make 
some  necessary  repairs  in  the  walls  of  the  older  part  of 
the  church,  and  to  build  anew  certain  chapels  on  each 
side  of  the  nave,  before  proceeding  with  the  erection  of 
the  lantern  above  the  dome.f 

In  the  early  summer  of  1434,  the  Pope,  Eugenius  IV., 
flying  from  enemies  in  Rome,  was  received  with  great 
ceremony  and  display  at  Florence.  A  residence  was 

*  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc.,  p.  199.  The  date  is  from  Cambi,  Storia 
Fiorentina,  p.  188.  Migliore,  in  his  Ftrenze  Illustrata,  1684,  p.  13,  gives 
the  date  as  I2th  of  January,  but  this  seems  a  typographical  error;  see 
Guasti,  Doc.  260,  p.  90.  Considering  the  size  and  the  difficulty  of  the 
work,  the  time  employed  on  its  construction  proves  the  diligence  with 
which  it  had  been  carried  on.  In  the  trustworthy  Notizie  e  Guida  di 
Ftrenze  [da  P.  Thouar  ed  E.  Repetti],  1841,  the  height  of  the  cupola  is 
stated  at  61  Florentine  braccia,  which  equals  116.80  English  ft.;  the 
height  of  its  spring  from  the  pavement  is  93  braccia,  or  178.07  ft.,  mak- 
ing the  total  height  to  its  summit  about  295  ft. 

t  Guasti,  Id.  Doc.  259,  p.  89. 


THE  CONSECRATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


273 


assigned  to  him  in  the  conventual  buildings  attached 
to  Sta.  Maria  Novella,  and  here  the  papal  court  was  for 
the  time  established,  and  new  interests  and  new  pictu- 
resqueness  were  added  to  the  crowded  and  various  ac- 
tivities of  Florentine  life.  The  Pope,  grateful  for  the 
treatment  he  received  from  the  authorities  of  State  and 
for  the  honors  paid  him  by  the  citizens,  desired  to  make 
such  return  as  was  in  his  power.  He  bestowed  the 
Rose  of  Gold  *  on  St.  Mary  of  the  Flower,  and  he  will- 
ingly undertook,  at  the  request  of  the  republic,  to  per- 
form in  person  the  ceremony  of  the  consecration  of  the 
church  on  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  the  Floren- 
tine New-year's-day,  the  25th  of  March,  1436.  From 
the  portal  of  Sta.  Maria  Novella  to  the  wide  steps  of 
Sta.  Maria  del  Fiore,  a  distance  of  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  mile,  a  platform  was  erected,  raised  about  four  feet 
from  the  ground,  and  about  eight  feet  in  width.  An 
awning  of  blue  and  white  cloth,  the  colors  of  the  Pope, 
was  stretched  above  it,  and  the  posts  by  which  the  awn- 
ing \vas  supported  were  festooned  with  boughs  of  myr- 
tle and  olive,  fir  and  cypress.  The  floor  of  the  platform 
was  carpeted,  and  its  sides  hung  with  tapestries.  Along 
this  decorated  way,  in  view  of  a  vast  concourse  of  citi- 
zens and  strangers,  who  occupied  windows  and  roofs, 

*  On  the  fourth  Sunday  of  Lent,  the  Pope,  in  going  to  and  returning 
from  church,  carries  in  his  hand  a  golden  rose,  which  used  afterwards 
to  be  given  to  the  most  noble  and  powerful  personage  of  his  court.  In 
later  custom  it  has  been  common  to  bestow  it  as  a  mark  of  grace  on 
monarchs  and  others  in  high  station.  Durandus  gives  a  long  account 
of  the  mystical  and  allegorical  significance  attaching  to  it.  See  his  Ra- 
tionale Divinorum  Officiorum,  lib.  vi.  cap.  53,  num.  8. 

18 


274     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

and  lined  the  streets,  gay  with  festal  adornments,  the 
Pope,  in  his  pontifical  robes,  proceeded  with  splendid 
pageant  to  the  cathedral.  Before  him  was  borne  the 
cross,  behind  him  came  cardinals  and  bishops,  and  the 
whole  Court  of  Rome,  prelates  and  ambassadors  from 
foreign  states,  and  the  Signory  and  high  officers  of  Flor- 
ence. The  city  had  seldom  witnessed  so  magnificent 
a  display.  The  liking  for  such  shows,  and  the  art  to 
set  them  forth  with  dignity  and  splendor,  were  charac- 
teristic features  of  the  period. 

The  ceremony  of  consecration  is  one  of  the  most 
impressive  of  the  stately  and  solemn  offices  of  the  Ro- 
man Church.  Its  symbolic  forms,  full  of  a  significance 
that  appeals  directly  to  the  imagination,  are  invested 
with  associations  that  touch  the  deepest  Christian  sen- 
timent. The  consecration  of  the  visible  edifice  is  the 
type  of  the  union  of  the  mystic  bride  with  her  Lord. 
Three  times  does  the  consecrating  prelate,  bishop  or 
pope  as  he  may  be,  knock  with  his  pastoral  staff  at 
the  closed  door,  saying, "  Attollite  portas,  principes,  ves- 
tras,  et  elevamini  portae  aeternales:  et  introibit  Rex 
gloriae."  Then  a  voice  from  within  asks,  "  Quis  est 
iste  Rex  gloriae?"  And  the  answer  is  returned  in 
the  words  of  the  psalm,  "  Dominus  fortis  et  potens ;" 
and  to  the  repeated  question,  answer  is  made  again, 
"Dominus  virtutum  ipse  est  Rex  gloriae.""  Then  the 

*  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates ;  and  be  ye  lift  up",  ye  everlasting 
doors,  and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in.  Who  is  this  King  of  glory  ? 
The  Lord  strong  and  mighty.  .  .  .  The  Lord  of  hosts,  he  is  the  King  of 
glory."  Psalm  xxiv.  7-10;  in  the  Vulgate,  Psalm  xxiii. 


CEREMONIES  OF  CONSECRATION.  375 

doors  are  thrown  wide  open,  and  the  bishop,  entering, 
says,  "  Pax  huic  domui,  et  omnibus  habitantibus  in  ea," 
thus  signifying  that  peace  which  Christ  wrought  be- 
tween God  and  man. 

On  this  great  day  for  Florence  the  cathedral  was 
decorated  with  unusual  lavishness  and  splendor.  The 
Pope  consecrated  and  blessed  the  high -altar,  and  the 
Cardinal  Orsini  anointed  the  twelve  crosses  painted 
upon  the  four  walls,  before  each  of  which  twelve  candles 
were  burning.  With  symbolic  rites,  and  with  prayer, 
with  chant  and  procession,  the  service  lasted  for  five 
hours.  But  this  was  not  all ;  the  consecration  was  fol- 
lowed by  another  ceremony  in  curious  contrast — con- 
trast characteristic  of  the  temper  of  the  time — to  the 
sacred  offices  just  concluded.  The  Pope,  with  intent 
to  pay  still  more  honor  to  the  city  whose  support  was 
of  great  importance  to  him,  desired  that  the  order  of 
knighthood  should  be  conferred  in  his  presence,  within 
the  church,  upon  the  Gonfalonier  of  Florence,  Giuliano 
Davanzati.  The  ceremony  was  duly  performed,  and  the 
Pope,  after  the  arming  of  the  knight,  clasped  with  his 
own  hand  the  collar  of  knighthood  around  his  neck,  "  a 
thing  never  before  done  to  any  citizen."  Then  the  Car- 
dinal of  Venice  said  mass,  and  finally  the  Pope  gave  his 
blessing  to  the  people,  conceding  to  them,  and  to  whoso- 
ever thenceforth,  on  the  anniversary  of  that  feast,  should 
hear  high  mass  within  the  Duomo,  seven  years  and 
seven  times  forty  days  of  indulgence.  That  night  the 
Gonfalonier  gave  a  grand  banquet  in  the  palace,  and 


FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

the  Signory,  in  recognition  of  the  favors  received  from 
the  Pope,  voted  "  to  give  to  him  fourteen  prisoners  of 
importance."* 

At  the  time  of  the  consecration  of  the  cathedral, 
Cosimo  de'  Medici  was  the  chief  man  in  the  Florentine 
commonwealth.  His  recall  from  exile  in  1434  had  been 
followed  by  the  banishment  or  death  of  the  prominent 
leaders  of  the  party  opposed  to  him  in  the  State,  and 
from  this  period  till  his  death,  in  1464,  his  influence  and 
authority  were  predominant  in  public  affairs.  He  was 
now  in  the  prime  of  life.  His  character  was  strong  and 
reserved,  his  will  resolute,  his  intelligence  clear  and  re- 
ceptive. The  fervent  spirit  common  to  the  men  of  the 
Renaissance  was  tempered  in  him  by  the  solid  common- 
sense  of  the  Florentine  burgher,  and  by  early  training 
in  the  business  of  his  father's  bank.  He  had  been  care- 
fully educated,  and  was  endowed  by  nature  with  a  taste 
for  learning  and  a  powerful  memory.  He  was  the  rich- 


*  For  the  account  of  the  procession,  see  the  eye-witness  Vespasiano 
da  Bisticci's  description  in  his  memoir  of  Eugenius  IV.,  in  his  Vite  di 
Uomini  Illustri  del  Secolo  X  V.  These  Lives  by  the  bookseller  Vespa- 
siano are  one  of  the  most  precious  books  of  the  century.  There  is  no 
other  that  brings  us  so  closely  face  to  face  with  the  men  of  Florence. 
The  simplicity  and  candor  of  Vespasiano's  character  appear  in  his  nar- 
ratives. The  book  affords  many  illustrations  of  the  literary  aspect  of 
the  early  Renaissance.  Unfortunately,  Vespasiano  seems  to  have  cared 
little  for  the  arts  except  those  connected  with  book -making,  such  as 
calligraphy,  illumination,  and  binding.  But  the  student  of  the  fine  arts 
of  the  Renaissance  will  find  much  of  incidental  interest  in  Vespasiano's 
pleasant  pages,  See  also,  in  regard  to  the  consecration,  Ammirato, 
Istorie  Florentine,  lib.  xxi.,  ed.  1826,  tomo  vi.  p.  245,  and  Machiavelli, 
Istorie  Florentine,  lib.  v.  §  1 5.  In  regard  to  the  release  of  prisoners,  see 
ante,  pp.  134,215. 


CO  SI  MO  DE'  MEDICI. 

est  man  in  Italy,  but  he  was  not  less  liberal  in  the  use 
than  skilful  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth.  His  habit  of 
thought  was  grave ;  he  was  the  friend  of  scholars  and 
artists ;  and  no  man  in  his  time  did  more  to  stimulate 
the  zeal  for  the  acquisition  of  new  learning,  or  to  pro- 
mote the  works  by  which  the  dignity  and  the  beauty 
of  Florence  were  increased.  During  the  stay  of  Pope 
Eugenius  in  the  city,  Cosimo,  at  his  suggestion,  under- 
took to  rebuild  the  Convent  of  St.  Mark,  and  employed 
Michellozzi,  a  man  of  genius,  second  only  as  an  archi- 
tect to  Brunelleschi,  for  the  work.  On  the  walls  of 
this  convent  Fra  Angelico  painted  his  famous  frescos, 
and  fifty  years  later  one  of  its  cells  was  occupied  by 
Savonarola.* 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Cosimo,  having  rejected 
a  plan  for  a  palace  designed  for  him  by  Brunelles- 
chi, as  too  sumptuous  and  magnificent  for  a  private 
citizen,  set  Michelozzi  to  building  that  famous  palace, 
still  one  of  the  noblest  in  Florence,  which,  according  to 
Vasari,  deserves  the  more  praise  because  it  was  the  first 
in  that  city  built  in  the  modern  style  with  appropriate 
distribution  of  apartments,  t  On  the  ornaments  of  this 

*  Vespasiano,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  Cosimo,  and  who,  in  his 
Lives,  has  drawn  an  extremely  interesting,  life-like,  and  attractive  por- 
trait of  him,  represents  this  work  as  undertaken  by  Cosimo  to  relieve 
his  conscience  from  the  burden  of  ill-gotten  wealth.  Vespasiano's  ac- 
count of  his  various  pious  buildings,  and  of  the  collection  of  books  with 
which  he  supplied  more  than  one  convent  library,  is  both  entertaining 
and  instructive. 

t  Vasari,  Life  of  Micheloszo  Michelozzi,  iii.  272.  This  palace  passed,  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  into  the  hands  of  the  Riccardi  family,  by  whom 
it  was  enlarged,  and  it  has  since  been  known  as  the  Palazzo  Riccardi. 


278      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

palace  Donatello  was  employed,  and  the  walls  of  its 
chapel  were  painted  by  Benozzo  Gozzoli  with  a  series 
of  beautiful  pictures  representing  the  Journey  of  the 
Wise  Men  of  the  East,  in  which  may  still  be  seen  the 
portraits  of  Cosimo  and  other  famous  men  of  the  time. 
Cosimo  kept  builders,  sculptors,  and  painters  well  em- 
ployed, and  his  example  was  followed  by  many  of  the 
rich  citizens.  The  arts  were  seldom  busier  in  Flor- 
ence, their  chief  modern  workshop,  than  in  these  years.* 
Not  long  after  the  consecration  of  the  Duomo,  the 
work  on  the  cupola  was  completed,!  and  on  the  3oth 

*  In  1426-27  it  seems  probable  that  Masaccio  was  painting  his  epoch- 
making  pictures,  "  the  first  of  the  modern  style,"  in  the  Capella  Bran- 
cacci ;  in  1432  Ghiberti,  still  at  work  on  his  second  door,  designed  the 
great  tabernacle  for  the  altar  in  the  Uffizto  of  the  Art  of  Flax-dress- 
ers, which  the  next  year  was  painted  by  Fra  Angelico,  "  di  dentro  e  di 
fuori,  co  colori  oro,  azzurro  et  arieto,  de'  migliori  et  piu  fini  che  si  truo- 
vino,  con  ogni  sua  arte  et  industria."  See  the  memorandum  of  con- 
tract in  Gualandi,  Memorie  Originate  risguardanti  le  Belle  Arti,  ser.  iv. 
p.  1 10.  Bologna,  1843.  The  tabernacle  "  painted  within  and  without " 
is  now  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery.  In  1434  Filippo  Lippi  was  painting  for 
the  high-altar  of  Sant'  Ambrogio  that  most  lovely  "Coronation  of  the 
Virgin  "  now  in  the  Academy,  and  known  by  its  portrait  of  the  painter 
and  the  angel  with  the  scroll  bearing  the  words  Isperfecit  opus.  In  these 
years  Donatello  was  busy  with  tender  figures  for  tombs,  and  with  stat- 
ues for  the  Duomo  and  the  Campanile.  In  1437  Luca  della  Robbia  was 
working  on  his  bass-reliefs,  beautiful  in  design  and  execution,  for  the 
Campanile.  In  1436  Paolo  Uccello  was  painting  his  big  equestrian  por- 
trait of  Giovanni  Acuto — the  adventurer  John  Hawkwood — on  the  wall 
of  the  Duomo.  Such  were  some  of  the  works  going  on  ;  many  scarcely 
less  beautiful  or  less  interesting,  done  in  these  years,  have  perished  or 
have  dropped  from  memory.  The  great  moments  in  history  —  and 
there  have  been  but  few  of  them — are  those  when  a  people  has  much 
to  express,  and  finds  expression  for  itself  by  means  of  artists  sympa- 
thetic with  its  higher  moods,  and  capable  of  giving  to  them  just  ut- 
terance. 

t  In  1434  a  commission  was  given  to  Donatello  and  Luca  della  Rob- 
bia to  make,  each  of  them,  a  head  in  clay,  "  prout  eis  et  cuilibet  eorum 


BENEDICTION  OF   THE  DOME.  279 

of  August,  1436,  the  Bishop  of  Fiesole,  attended  by 
clergy  and  people,  mounted  to  the  dome  in  order  to 
bestow  upon  it  a  solemn  benediction.  Among  the  en- 
tries in  the  journal  of  expenses  of  the  opera  is  one  for 
money  spent  on  that  day  for  a  gift  to  the  bishop,  and 
"for  trumpeters  and  fifers,  wine,  bread,  meat,  fruit, 
cheese  and  macaroni,  and  other  things,"  *  given  to  the 
masters  and  workmen,  and  to  the  canons  and  priests, 
for  the.  celebration  of  this  feast  and  benediction. 

It  was  just  after  the  completion  of  the  dome  that 
Leon  Battista  Alberti,  the  most  universal  genius  and 
the  most  accomplished  man  of  his  age,  one  who  repre- 
sented in  clearest  traits  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance, 
was  restored  to  Florence,  whence  his  family  had  long 
been  banished.  The  close  of  his  exile  was  a  result  of 
the  revolution  accomplished  by  the  return  of  Cosimo 
de'  Medici  in  1434.  The  impression  which  the  works 
accomplished  by  the  living  generation  of  Florentine 
artists  made  upon  this  son  of  Florence  born  in  exile, 
who  till  his  thirtieth  year  had  never  entered  his  ances- 
tral city,  was  very  deep,  and  it  finds  striking  and  mem- 
orable expression  in  the  dedication  to  Brunelleschi  of 
his  treatise  on  Painting  which  was  written  in  the  year 
i436.t  "  I  have  been  accustomed,"  says  Alberti,  in  this 

videbitur  melius  et  pulcrius,"  to  serve  as  a  model  for  a  head  to  be  cut 
in  stone  to  be  set  "  in  gula  clausure  cupole  magne."  Guasti,  La  Cupola,- 
etc.,  Doc.  252,  p.  88. 

*  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc.,  Doc.  261,  p.  90. 

t  Delia  Pittura  di  Leon  Battista  Alberti  Libri  Tre,  of  which  the  last 
and  best  edition  is  that  of  Janitschek,  No.  XI.  of  the  series  of  Quellen- 


28o      FLORENCE,  AND   ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

dedication,  in  words  that  breathe  the  feeling  of  the 
Renaissance,  "  both  to  wonder  and  to  grieve  that  so 
many  supreme  and  divine  arts  and  sciences,  which, 
alike  from  their  works  and  from  history,  we  see  to  have 
abounded  in  those  most  highly  endowed  ancients,  were 
now  lacking  and  almost  utterly  lost.  And,  indeed,  hear- 
ing from  many  that  this  was  the  case,  I  thought  that 
Nature,  mistress  of  all  things,  now  grown  old  and  weary, 
even  as  she  no  longer  brought  forth  giants,  in  likewise 
no  longer  produced  geniuses  such  as  those  most  ample 
and  marvellous  spirits  which  she  produced  in  her  youth- 
ful and  more  glorious  days. 

"  But  since  I  have  been  restored,  after  long  exile,  in 
which  I,  Alberti,  have  grown  old,  to  this  our  native  land, 
that  surpasseth  all  others  in  her  adornment,  I  have  recog- 
nized in  many,  but  chiefly  in  thee,  Philip,  and  in  our  near 
friend  Donate  the  sculptor,  and  in  those  others,  Nen- 
cio  and  Luca  and  Masaccio,  genius  capable  for  every 
praiseworthy  work,  not  inferior  to  that  of  any  ancient 
and  famous  master  in  the  arts.*  Wherefore  I  perceived 
that  in  our  own  industry  and  diligence,  not  less  than  in 
the  kindness  of  nature  and  of  the  ages,  lay  the  power 
of  acquiring  praise  for  every  excellence.  I  acknowl- 
edge, indeed,  that  as  it  was  less  difficult  for  the  ancients, 

schriftenfiir  Kunstgeschichte  und  Kunsttechnik  des  Mittelalters  und  der 
Renaissance,  herausgegeben  von  R.  Eitelberger  v.  Edelberg.  Wien,  1877. 
*  Nencio  was  the  familiar  name  of  Lorenzo  Ghiberti,  and  this  easy 
reference  to  him  is  pleasant  as  showing  that  whatever  bitterness  of 
feeling  may  have  existed  between  him  and  Brunelleschi,  it  did  not  ren- 
der the  expression  of  admiration  for  him  difficult  in  words  addressed 
to  the  great  architect.  Luca  is  Luca  della  Robbia. 


ALBERTI'S  DEDICATION.  28 1 

having  abundant  supply  of  teachers  and  of  models,  to 
rise  to  the  knowledge  of  those  supreme  arts  which  are 
to-day  most  laborious  for  us,  even  so  much  the  greater 
should  be  our  fame  if  we,  without  preceptors  and  with- 
out examples,  invent  arts  and  sciences  unheard  of  and 
never  before  seen.  Who  is  so  unfeeling  or  so  envious 
that  he  would  not  praise  Pippo  (Brunelleschi),  the  ar- 
chitect, beholding  here  a  structure  so  grand,  lifted  to 
the  heavens,  ample  to  cover  with  its  shadow  the  whole 
Tuscan  people,  erected  without  aid  of  framework  or 
multitude  of  timbers — a  work  of  art  in  truth,  if  I  judge 
rightly,  such  as,  deemed  incredible  in  these  times  of 
ours, was  neither  conceived  nor  known  by  the  ancients? 
But  there  will  be  another  place  for  reciting  thy  praises 
and  the  virtue  of  our  Donato,  and  of  the  others  most 
dear  to  me  by  their  ways.  Do  thou  only  persevere  in 
inventing  as  thou  dost  from  day  to  day  things  by  which 
thy  marvellous  genius  shall  acquire  perpetual  fame  and 
name,  and  if  perchance  some  leisure  shall  fall  to  thee, 
it  will  please  me  shouldst  thou  look  over  this  little 
book  of  mine  on  painting,  which,  inscribed  to  thee,  I 
have  written  in  the  Tuscan  tongue." 

The  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  has  not  left 
us  a  more  interesting  record  than  this  of  personal  rela- 
tions, or  a  better  illustration  of  the  disposition  of  the 
age,  and  of  contemporary  criticism  upon  its  chief  pro- 
ductions. 

The  completion  of  the  cupola  was  not  the  comple- 
tion of  Brunelleschi's  work.  Upon  the  cupola  was 


282     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF   THE  FLOWER. 

to  stand  the  lantern,  that  was  to  form  the  proper 
summit  of  the  whole  vast  edifice,  and  on  the  pro- 
portions and  design  of  which  the  effect  of  the  dome 
itself  would  be  greatly  dependent.  The  Board  of 
Works  had  long  had  Brunelleschi's  model  in  their 
hands,  and  can  scarcely  have  doubted  that  he  was  the 
man  to  put  the  crown  upon  his  own  work ;  but  the 
busy  circle  of  critics  and  rivals  was  to  be  considered, 
and,  if  possible,  conciliated.  The  familiar  means  was 
adopted  of  asking  for  models  from  all  such  persons  as 
might  desire  to  make  one,  and  of  exhibiting  them  to 
the  public.  "  All  the  masters  who  were  in  Florence," 
says  Vasari, "  after  seeing  Filippo's  model,  set  to  work 
to  make  one,  and  even  a  woman  of  the  house  of  Gaddi 
ventured  into  the  competition."  The  opera  gave  notice 
that  all  the  models  must  be  ready  by  the  1 5th  of  Sep- 
tember of  this  year,  1436 ;  and  at  that  time  five  models, 
besides  that  of  Brunelleschi,  were  presented,  one  of 
them  by  Ghiberti,  who  could  not  desist  from  the  old 
habit  of  rivalry. 

An  assembly  was  convened  to  consider  and  pro- 
nounce upon  the  models.  It  was  composed  of  a  great 
number  of  masters  of  theology,  of  very  many  doctors, 
of  architects,  goldsmiths,  and  masters  of  numerous  other 
arts,  as  well  as  of  many  citizens,  and  the  general  opinion 
was  in  favor  of  Brunelleschi's  design.  But  this  was  not 
enough.  Three  meetings  of  the  Board  were  held,  at 
which  were  present  two  architects,  two  painters,  two 
goldsmiths,  one  mathematician  (arismetricus),  and  two 


REPORT  ON  MODELS  OF   THE  LANTERN.        383 

of  the  more  intelligent  citizens  of  Florence,  ingenious 
and  versed  in  the  art  of  architecture,  who,  after  study- 
ing the  matter  well,  gave  their  opinion  in  writing  con- 
cerning the  models ;  and,  finally,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed consisting  of  seven  of  the  most  respected  and 
notable  citizens,  among  them  Cosimo  de'  Medici,  who, 
after  due  deliberation,  gave  their  opinion  in  the  follow- 
ing terms  :  "  that,  having  examined  the  models  for  the 
construction  and  arrangement  of  the  lantern,  and  con- 
sidered diligently  the  experiments  conducted,  and  the 
reports  made  upon  the  said  models  by  numerous  ar- 
chitects, painters,  goldsmiths,  and  other  intelligent  citi- 
zens, it  seems  to  them  that  the  model  of  Philip  Master 
Brunelleschi  is  best  in  form,  and  possesses  the  best  parts 
of  perfection ;  in  that  it  is  stronger  than  the  other  mod- 
els, and  also  lighter  in  fact  and  in  appearance ;  further, 
in  that  it  is  better  lighted ;  and,  finally,  in  that  it  is  well 
devised  to  resist  injury  from  water.  And,  for  these  afore- 
said reasons  and  causes,  it  seems  to  them  that  the  lan- 
tern should  be  made  and  constructed  according  to  the 
model  of  the  said  Philip,  and  that  the  same  Philip  should 
be  intrusted  with  the  work  to  put  it  in  execution,  with 
these  conditions,  to  wit :  that  the  Board  of  Works  should 
have  Philip  before  them,  and  should,  committing  this 
charge  to  him  with  such  words  as  may  be  required,  de- 
sire him  to  be  pleased  to  lay  aside  all  rancor,  if  any  abide 
in  him,  and  to  correct  and  amend  such  part  of  the  said 
model  as  he  may  judge  to  be  defective,  although  in 
slight  degree ;  and  to  take  and  adopt  into  his  own  de- 


284     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

sign  what  things  are  good  and  useful  in  the  other  mod- 
els, to  the  end  that  the  said  lantern  may  have  all  its 
parts  perfect ;  in  regard  to  all  these  matters  laying  the 
burden  upon  his  conscience.  And  they  give  the  afore- 
said advice,  taking  into  account  the  above-mentioned 
counsels,  and  having  regard  to  the  marvellous  work  of 
the  great  cupola,  which  by  his  virtue  he  has  brought  to 
the  desired  end."  Having  given  due  consideration  to 
this  memorable  opinion,  the  Board  of  Works, "  wishing  " 
(these  were  their  words)  "  to  make  a  beginning  of  such 
a  lantern  as  is  befitting  to  a  work  so  magnificent  and 
admirable  as  the  great  cupola,  and  such  as  is  desired 
by  the  whole  people  of  Florence,"  proceeded,  on  the 
3ist  of  December,  1436,  to  a  formal  and  secret  vote, 
and  "  unanimously  determined  and  decreed  that  the 
said  lantern  should  be  constructed  and  built  accord- 
ing to  the  model  of  the  aforesaid  Philip  Master  Bru- 
nelleschi,  and  that  the  ordering  and  execution  of  the 
work  should  be  committed  to  Philip  in  the  manner 
and  form  advised  by  the  worthy  and  eminent  citizens 
aforesaid."  * 

The  work,  being  thus  completely  intrusted  to  Bru- 
nelleschi,  should  have  gone  forward  rapidly;  and,  indeed, 
fifteen  days  after  his  appointment,  Philip,  accompanied 
by  three  of  the  masters  employed  by  the  opera,  made 

*  These  instructive  and  remarkable  proceedings  are  set  forth  in  full 
in  the  records  of  the  Board  of  Works.  See  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc., 
Doc.  273,  pp.  93-95.  They  afford  another  illustration  of  the  excellent 
spirit  and  methods  of  the  Florentines  in  the  conduct  of  great  public 
works. 


CHANGES  IN   THE  FLORENTINE  CHARACTER.     385 

a  journey  to  the  quarries  of  Campiglia  to  see  whether 
the  marble  required  in  the  construction  of  the  lantern 
could  be  obtained  from  them.  But  the  work  of  actual 
building  was  not  begun.  Year  after  year  there  was  de- 
lay. The  cause  of  this  slackness  cannot  now  be  ascer- 
tained. The  public  temper  of  Florence  had  undergone 
a  great  change  since  the  last  century.  The  city  was 
contentedly  submitting  to  the  gradual  loss  of  its  inde- 
pendence ;  it  was  wearied  and  exhausted  by  the  turbu- 
lence and  the  efforts  of  many  generations.  It  preferred 
quiet  and  material  prosperity,  with  loss  of  liberty,  to  the 
strenuous  exertions  required  for  self-government  and 
to  the  frequent  recurrence  of  disturbances  resulting 
from  such  democratic  institutions  as  those  of  which 
it  had  long  had  experience.  There  is  nothing  sur- 
prising in  this.  The  steadiest  human  motives  are 
those  of  a  material  order.  The  higher  motives  are 
seldom  other  than  inconstant  and  irregular  incite- 
ments to  the  mass  of  men,  even  in  communities  in 
which  the  average  of  character  is  high.  In  Florence 
that  generous  sense  of  common  civic  interests  which 
had  inspired  and  in  great  measure  united  her  citizens, 
in  spite  of  imbittered  party  divisions,  had  gradually  de- 
clined. The  ancient  faith,  which  had  been  the  support 
of  morality,  was  weakened  and  undermined  by  the  new 
thought  of  the  Renaissance.  The  standard  of  personal 
conduct  was  lowered.  The  increase  of  intelligence  was 
accompanied  with  a  growth  of  selfishness.  The  very 
development  of  individuality  which  was  characteristic 


286      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

of  the  period  tended  to  enfeeble  the  commonwealth. 
Men  gave  themselves  up  to  private  ends  and  enter- 
prises. They  built  and  adorned  palaces  rather  than 
churches.* 

Moreover,  at  this  time  the  Florentines  were  oc- 
cupied by  concerns  which,  although  of  high  ecclesias- 
tical significance,  gave  curious  indication  of  the  de- 
cline in  power  of  religious  ideas  over  the  minds  and 
lives  of  clergy  and  laity  alike.  The  Church  was  dis- 
tracted by  bitter  internal  discord.  There  were  rival 
popes  —  two  opposing  infallibles.  There  were  rival 
councils,  each  claiming  to  be  oecumenical.  The  coun- 
cil that  had  met  at  Ferrara  was  conspicuous  by  the 
presence  of  the  chief  prelates  of  the  Eastern  Church, 
and  of  the  Emperor  of  the  East,  John  Palaeologus, 
whose  splendid  pretensions  and  nominal  dignities  were 
in  sharp  contrast  with  his  shrunken  possessions  and  fee- 
ble authority.  After  long  intrigue,  the  Greek  bishops, 
induced  by  bribery,  compelled  by  poverty  and  fear  of 
the  Turks,  influenced  by  a  multitude  of  considerations, 
personal,  political,  and  ecclesiastical,  had  come  with  in- 
tent to  defend,  indeed,  their  ancient  opinions  on  the 
points  of  difference  by  which  the  Latin  and  the  Greek 
Church  had  for  six  hundred  years  been  divided,  but 

*  In  a  noted  passage  in  his  History,  Varchi,  describing  the  city  of 
Florence,  says,  citing  as  his  authority  Benedetto  Dei,  "  a  diligent  and 
sensible  person,"  that  between  the  years  1450  and  1478  thirty  palaces 
were  built.  Most  of  these  were  magnificent  and  stately  edifices.  There 
were  thirty-five  palaces  of  older  date.  At  the  same  period  there  were 
one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  gardens  within  the  walls.  Storia  Fioren- 
tina,  lib.  ix.  §§  38,  39. 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  FLORENCE.  2&J 

prepared  finally  to  yield  them  for  the  sake  of  a  union 
from  which  they  might  hope  for  at  least  material  benefit. 
The  age  was  not  one  to  breed  martyrs  for  mere  doc- 
trine's sake.  Driven  from  Ferrara  by  the  plague,  Pope, 
Emperor,  and  Council  betook  themselves  to  Florence, 
where,  in  the  winter  of  1439,  they  were  welcomed  with 
magnificent  hospitality.  The  city  was  filled  with  illus- 
trious guests  from  many  lands.  The  debates  in  the 
Council  were  protracted  through  several  months.  At 
length,  "  on  a  solemn  day,"  says  the  excellent  Vesgasi- 
ano — it  was  the  6th  of  July — "  the  Pope,  with  all  the 
Court  of  Rome,  and  the  Emperor  of  the  Greeks,  with  all 
the  bishops  and  prelates,  went  to  St.  Mary  of  the  Flower, 
which  had  been  prepared  as  beseemed  such  an  occa- 
sion. The  Pope,  the  cardinals,  and  the  prelates  of  the 
Roman  Church  took  their  places  on  the  side  where  the 
Gospel  is  read,  and  on  the  other  side  was  the  Emperor 
of  Constantinople,  with  all  the  Greek  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops." All  were  arrayed  in  their  richest  robes  of 
ceremony,  and  "  the  style  of  the  Greek  dresses  seemed 
far  more  grave  and  becoming  than  that  of  the  Latin 
prelates."  The  Pope  sang  a  solemn  mass;  Cardinal 
Julian,  and  Bessarion,  Archbishop  of  Nicaea,  read  from 
the  pulpit,  in  their  respective  tongues,  the  act  of  union, 
and  "  mutually  embraced  in  the  name  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  their  applauding  brethren,"  and  before  the  mul- 
titude of  spectators  of  so  singular  and  splendid  a  scene, 
who  crowded  the  vast  nave  of  the  cathedral,  and  filled 
the  space  beneath  its  majestic  dome.  "  All  the  world 


288     FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY   OF  THE  FLOWER. 

had  gathered  in  Florence  to  witness  an  act  of  such 
dignity."  * 

Many  notable  ceremonies  have  been  performed,  many 
striking  incidents  have  taken  place,  within  the  walls  of 
Santa  Maria  del  Fiore,  but  never  was  the  great  church 
the  theatre  of  a  performance  more  impressive  than  that 
of  this  day,  from  the  variety  and  the  character  of  the 
historic  and  religious  associations  with  wrhich  it  ap- 
pealed to  the  imagination.  The  Emperor  of  the  East 
stood  there  as  the  representative  of  the  ancient  world, 
a  solitary  and  splendid  figure,  round  which  were  gath- 
ered the  mightiest  traditions  of  the  past ;  the  Pope  was 
hardly  less  an  image  of  the  past,  the  symbol  of  that 
Mediaeval  Church  which  was  giving  way  before  the 
spirit  of  the  modern  world. 

The  proper  work  of  the  Council  failed.  The  union 
of  the  churches  of  the  East  and  the  West  was  a  de- 
lusion. But  the  influence  of  the  Council  was  neither 
transient  nor  local ;  it  was  one  of  the  chief  agencies  in 
the  emancipation  of  the  intelligence  of  Europe.  The 
presence  in  Florence  for  many  months  of  a  number  of 
learned  and  eminent  men  to  whom  the  tongue  of  an- 
cient Greece  was  hardly  a  dead  language  quickened 
the  long-since-awakened  zeal  of  Florentine  students  to 
possess  themselves  of  that  "golden  key  which  could 
unlock  for  them  the  treasures  of  antiquity." 


*  Vespasiano's  account  of  the  ceremonies  is  in  his  Life  of  Eugemus 
IV"  §§  I3-  H-  Gibbon  gives  a  clear  and  animated  narrative  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Council,  ch.  Ixvi. 


STUDY  OF  GREEK  AT  FLORENCE.  289 

The  eloquence  of  Bessarion,  the  mystical  discourses 
of  the  venerable  Gemistos  Plethon,  indoctrinated  their 
Florentine  disciples  with  the  divine  teachings  of  their 
common  master,  Plato.  It  was  a  doctrine  conformed  to 
the  inherited  poetic  and  religious  genius  of  Florence. 
The  Platonic  Academy  was  founded  by  Cosimo  de' 
Medici,  whose  own  nature  was  susceptible  to  the  im- 
pression made  by  these  teachers.  The  reverence  for 
Plato  led  to  the  study  and  interpretation  of  Greek 
poetry  and  philosophy  in  general;  and  when,  fifteen 
years  later,  Constantinople,  the  last  refuge  of  Greek  let- 
ters on  their  own  ground,  fell  a  conquest  to  the  barbaric 
Turk,  the  enthusiasm  thus  awakened  had  happily  not 
abated,  and  Italy  was  prepared  to  offer  asylum  to  schol- 
ars who  brought  her  the  last  remnants  of  ancient  learn- 
ing, and  to  become  the  interpreter  to  Europe  of  the 
thought  of  Greece,  and,  by  force  of  kindred  genius, 
to  revivify  the  Greek  spirit  in  new  forms  of  art.  As 
-  Homer  admitted  Dante  to  his  company  of  poets,  so 
the  architects  of  Athens  would  not  have  denied  their 
brotherhood  with  Brunelleschi,  nor  would  her  painters 
have  refused  to  Botticelli  entrance  to  their  band. 

In  the  year  of  the  Council,  little  advance  seems  to 
have  been  made  towards  the  completion  of  the  Duomo. 
There  was  a  falling-off  in  the  funds  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Board  of  Works.  The  salary  of  Brunelleschi  and  of 
other  masters  was  reduced  one  half.*  For  three  years 

*  This  was  on  the  ground  of  an  impost  of  two  thousand  florins  laid 
on  the  opera  by  the  magistracy  called  della  Masserizia,  or  "  of  Frugal- 

19 


200      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

there  is  no  record  of  work,  and  it  was  not  till  April, 
1445,  that  the  Consuls  of  the  Art  of  Wool,  desirous 
that  the  lantern  should  be  built,  and  considering  the 
extreme  difficulty  of  raising  stone  and  marble  to  the 
top  of  the  dome  and  of  supporting  it  there  in  sufficient 
quantity  for  the  construction,  by  a  fresh  vote  appointed 
"  Philip,  who  said  he  could  do  the  work,  sole  overseer  for 
the  term  of  his  life,"  but  "  no  longer,"  adds  the  cautious 
scribe — "  pro  tempore  et  termino  duraturo  eius  vita  du- 
rante  et  donee  vixerit,  et  non  ulterius" — at  a  salary  once 
more  of  a  hundred  florins  annually.*  It  is  uncertain 
whether  the  work  of  actual  construction  was  even 
then  begun.  The  documents  are  silent;  Baldinucci, 
without  giving  his  authority,  asserts  that  the  first  stone 
of  the  "lantern  was  placed  in  1445,  and  there  is  no  evi- 
dence to  contradict  his  assertion.!  But  the  master 
was  not  to  see  his  design  completed,  was  not  long  even 
to  direct  its  progress. 

"  Finally,"  says  Vasari,  "  Filippo,  being  now  very  old, 
that  is,  sixty-nine  years  old,  in  the  year  1446,  on  the 
1 6th  of  April,  went  to  a  better  life,  after  having  toiled 
greatly  in  the  performance  of  works  which  made  him 
deserve  on  earth  an  honored  name,  and  obtain  in  heav- 
en an  abode  of  peace.  His  country  felt  infinite  grief 
for  him,  and  knew  and  esteemed  him  when  he  was 
dead  far  more  than  it  had  done  while  he  was  living. 

ity."  The  motive  of  this  impost  is  not  stated.  Guasti,  La  Ctipola,  etc., 
Doc.  88,  p.  46. 

*  Guasti,  La  Cupola,  etc.,  Doc.  93,  p.  48. 

t  Baldinucci,  Vita  di  Filippo  Ser  Brunellesco,  Firenze,  1812,  p.  126. 


DEA  TH  OF  BR  UNELLESCHI.  2  9 1 

A  multitude  of  friends,  artists,  wept  for  him,  and  chiefly 
the  poorer  among  them,  to  whom  he  had  done  good 
continually." 

His  body  was  laid  in  the  campanile,  but  in  Febru- 
ary of  the  next  year  order  was  taken  that  it  should  be 
buried  within  the  cathedral,  and  that  the  marble  slab 
in  the  pavement  above  his  grave  should  bear  the  words 

"  FILIPPUS  ARCHITECTOR." 

It  was  Brunelleschi's  chief  desire,  says  Vasari,  to  bring 
back  to  light  good  architecture,  the  good  old  orders,  in 
place  of  the  German  and  barbarous  style  which  had 
been  in  vogue ;  and  he  succeeded.  The  curves  of  his 
dome  clasp  the  modern  to  the  classic  world. 

More  than  twenty  years  passed  after  Brunelleschi's 
death  before  the  lantern  was  completed.  On  the  23d 
of  April,  1467,  the  last  and  highest  stone  was  set,  and 
the  Signory  of  the  city  and  the  Consuls  of  the  Art  of 
Wool  mounted  to  the  lantern,  in  order  to  be  present 
at  its  consecration  by  the  archbishop,  with  his  chapter 
and  all  the  canons  and  chaplains  of  the  Church.* 

*  Ricordo  of  Alamanno  di  Francesco,  in  Gualandi,  Memorie  di  Belle 
Arti,  ser.  iv.  1845,  p.  139.  The  date  is  generally  given,  it  is  so  even  by 
Guasti  (p.  202),  as  23d  of  April,  1461.  This  error  is  due  to  Baldinucci, 
who  misdates  a  Ricordo  which  he  cites,  Vita  di  F Hippo  di  Ser  Brunel- 
lesco,  p.  126,  note.  The  Record  itself  should  have  saved  him  from  the 
error,  and  led  to  its  earlier  correction,  for  it  contains  the  name  of  the 
Gonfalonier  present  at  the  consecration  of  the  lantern,  Tommaso  So- 
derini.  Soderini  was  Gonfalonier  in  1467.  Compare  Doc.  317  in  Guasti, 
La  Cupola,  etc.,  p.  107,  from  the  records  of  the  opera,  dated  December  31 ,  . 
1466,  in  which  are  the  words  "  seeing  that  the  lantern  is  near  its  perfec- 
tion, so  that  in  a  short  time  it  will  be  finished  and  complete."  Milanesi 
repeats  the  error  in  his  new  edition  of  Vasari,  Firenze,  1878,  tomo  ii. 
p.  364,  note. 


2Q2      FLORENCE,  AND  ST.  MARY  OF  THE  FLOWER. 

With  the  completion  of  Brunelleschi's  design,  the 
interest  of  the  history  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Flower  as  a 
work  of  religious  faith,  of  civic  pride,  of  artistic  genius, 
comes  to  an  end.  Few  cities  possess  a  nobler  or  more 
characteristic  monument  of  the  great  achievements  of 
their  people  in  the  past.  Few  cities  have  nurtured  a 
people  so  worthy  of  such  a  memorial  as  those  of  Flor- 
ence. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX   I. 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING   TO   THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA. 

THE  following  documents  were  obtained  by  me  from 
the  archives  in  Siena,  in  1870.  Some  of  them  were 
published  in  an  article  in  Von  Zahn's  Jahrbncher fur 
Kunstwissensckaft,  in  May,  1872;  but  that  excellent 
journal  soon  after  ceased  to  appear,  owing  to  the  un- 
timely death  of  its  accomplished  editor,  and  as  its 
numbers  are  accessible  to  few  English  readers,  I  have 
thought  it  worth  while  to  reprint  those  documents 
which  appeared  in  it,  and  to  add  to  them  a  few  that 
have  never  been  in  print. 

The  Padre  Delia  Valle,  in  his  Lettere  Sanesi  (1782), 
published  a  few  documents  relating  to  the  Duomo. 
Others  were  printed  by  Von  Rumohr  in  his  still  valu- 
able Italienische  Forschungen  (1827).  These  were  re- 
published,  with  many  printed  for  the  first  time,  by 
Milanesi,  in  his  Documenti  per  la  Storia  del?  Arte  Se- 
nese  (1854),  often  referred  to  in  the  preceding  pages. 

The  first  of  the  documents  I  print  is  an  extract  from 
the  earliest  existing  "  Statuto  "  of  the  commune,  con- 
cerning the  duties  of  the  Podesta  in  respect  to  the  Du- 
omo, of  which  I  have  given  an  account  on  pp.  86-88. 


296 


APPENDIX. 


I. 

From  Statuto  Senese  77. ,  f.  i. 

A.D.  CIRCA  1260. 

(l.)  Dejure  operariorum  sancte  marie. 

Et  infra  unum  mensem  a  principle  mei  dominatus  faciam  jurare 
operarios  opere  sancte  marie,  quod  omnes  redditus  qui  ad  manus  eo- 
rum  pervenerint  pro  ipso  opere,  vel  eius  occasione,  reducent  in  manus 
trium  legalium  hominum  de  penitentia,  quos  dominus  episcopus  eligat, 
cum  consulibus  utriusque  mercantie,  et  prioribus  xxinjor  vel  cum  ma- 
iori  parti  eorum,  qui  teneantur  esse  cum  domino  episcopo  ad  ipsam 
electionem  faciendam,  de  tribus  in  tribus  mensibus,  salvo  quod  possint 
inde  facere  consuetas  expensas.  Et  illos  tres  cogam  recipere  super  se 
omne  debitum  quod  pro  ipso  opere  debetur,  si  dominus  episcopus  volu- 
erit  opus  sancte  marie  et  debitum  sub  sua  protectione  recipere,  et  dicti 
tres  teneantur  reddere  rationem  eorum  in  consilio  campane  et  populi 
de  tribus  in  tribus  mensibus,  et  potestas  teneatur  facere  reddi  dictam 
rationem  a  dictis  tribus  ut  dictum  est. 

(2.)  De  eodem. 

Et  faciam  consilium  campane  comunis  per  totum  mensem  januarii 
de  providendo  super  mittendis  hominibus  qui  revideant  rationem  red- 
dituum  et  expensarum  operis  sancte  marie,  et  qualiter  procedatur  in 
dicto  opere,  et  de  habendo  operario  uno  vel  pluribus  ;  et  quicquid  con- 
silium, vel  maior  pars,  dixerit  ita  faciam  et  observabo. 

(3.)  Dejure  eorumdem. 

Et  faciam  jurare  operarios  sancte  marie  quod  quando  habebunt  x 
libras  super  facto  operis  ipsas  expendent  in  amanamento  *  et  facto  ope- 
ris, et  illud  admanamentum  non  preste[n]t  alicui  sine  domini  episcopi 
parabola  et  mea,  et  ab  inde  superius  mutabitur  in  opere  ad  dictum  do- 
mini  episcopi  et  mei. 

(4.)  Dejure  illorum  qui  acquimnt  pro  opere  sancte  marie. 
Et  faciam  jurare  illos  qui  acquirunt  in  civitate  senarum  pro  opere 
sancte  marie  quod  quicquid  ad  manus  eorum  sive  ad  eos  pro  ipso  opere 
perveniet  sine  diminutione  dabitur  et  reassignabitur  in  manus  domino- 

*  This  is  a  Latinizing  of  the  word  "  ammanimento,"  which  means  "  prepara- 
tion," here  used,  perhaps,  for  the  getting-together  of  tools  and  materials.  Com- 
pare 

"  Ma  se  le  svergognate  fosser  certe 

Di  quel  che  '1  ciel  veloce  loro  ammana." 

Dante,  Purg.  xxiii.  106-7. 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA. 


297 


rum  operis  vel  in  manus  illorum  qui  pro  opere  fuerint  electi,  et  hoc  fa- 
cere  teneantur  singulis  edomadis  semel,  exceptis  illis  qui  diebus  pasqua- 
libus  acquirunt  in  ecclesia  maiori,  et  predicta  juramenta  fiant  per  to- 
tum  mensem  januarii. 

(5.)  De  reducendis  marmoribus  ad  opus  sancte  marie. 
Et  si  contigerit  quod  rector  et  operarii  maioris  ecclesie  rumpi  mar- 
mora  fecerint  pro  opere  sancte  marie,  et  ilia  voluerint  facere  reduci  ad 
illud  opus,  ilia  marmora  et  portilia  faciam  deferri  expensis  comunis,  vel 
per  foretaneos  nostre  jurisdictions,  usque  ad  dictum  opus,  ad  inquisi- 
tionem  operariorum  eiusdem  opere  vel  dominorum  fraternitatis. 

(6.)  De  magistris  dandis  operi  sancte  marie. 

Et  dabo  vel  dari  faciam  operi  sancte  marie  x  magistros  expensis  et 
pretio  comunis  senarum,  a  futuris  kalendis  januarii  ad  unum  annum, 
diebus  quibus  erit  laborandum  ad  inquisitionem  dominorum  ipsius  ope- 
ris :  et  faciam  jurare  operarios  quod  ipsi  facient  jurare  magistros  labo- 
rare  in  dicto  opere  bona  fide  sine  fraude  sicuti  in  proprio  suo  labora- 
rent,  et  quod  dicti  operarii  teneantur  accusare  dictos  magistros  apud 
camerarium  et  iiijor  [provisores]  comunis  senarum  si  predicta  non  face- 
rent  vel  non  observarent. 

(7.)  De  jure  magistrorum  opere  sancte  marie. 

Et  predictos  magistros  jurare  faciam  assidue  in  dicto  opere  laborare 
tarn  in  estate  quemadmodum  in  yeme,  et  pro  eodem  pretio,  et  quod 
nulli  alii  adiuvabunt  ad  laborandum  sine  speciali  licentia  potestatis,  et 
tune  pro  facto  comunis  tamen,  et  hoc  idem  observetur  de  omnibus  aliis 
qui  in  dicto  opere  fuerint  conducti. 

(8.)  De  deliberando  et  ordinando  quomodo  in  dicto  opere  procedatur. 

Et  de  mense  januarii  tenear  ego  potestas,  et  capitaneus  teneatur,  una 
cum  consulibus  utriusque  mercanzie  et  prioribus  xxiiijor,  deliberare  et 
videre  et  ordinare  super  facto  operis  sancte  marie  quomodo  et  qualiter 
in  dicto  opere  procedatur,  et  quot  magistri  in  ipso  opere  debeant  labo- 
rare, et  quomodo  laborent  ibi  assidue  sine  interpolatione  alterius  ope- 
ris, et  super  salario  eorum,  et  utrum  debeant  dicti  magistri  retinere  in 
gignoribus  *  vel  non,  et  super  operariis  ibidem  statuendis,  et  super  acta- 
tionibus  dicti  operis,  et  super  faciendo  fieri  sedilia  sive  gradus  lapidis 
circum  circa  plateam  episcopatus  per  magistros  dicti  operis,  ut  cum  fit 
contio  sive  parlamentum  gentes  possint  sedere  et  morari  super  ipsis 
gradibus  ;  et  generaliter  super  omnibus  et  singulis  supradictis,  et  eorum 
occasione,  et  super  omnibus  utilitatibus  faciendis  pro  dicto  opere  sicut 

*  "  Gignore  "  =  apprentice.  See  Statuti  degli  Orafi  Sanest,  of  1361,  in  Gaye, 
Carteggio,  tomo  i.  p.  8. 


298 


APPENDIX. 


eis  videbitur,  et  quicquid  de  predictis  fecerint  et  statuerint  sit  ratum  et 
firmum  non  obstante  aliquo  constitute. 

(9.)  De  inveniendo  loco  pro  cappella  construenda  ad  honor  em  dei  et  beate 

virginis. 

Et  teneantur  priores  xxiiijor  et  camerarius  et  iiijor  provisores  comunis 
senarum  et  consules  utriusque  mercantie,  si  exinde  fuerint  requisiti 
a  domino  episcopo  senensi,  invenire  et  videre  et  ordinare  locum  unum 
in  quo  eis  videretur  magis  conveniens  pro  construendo  et  faciendo  fieri 
expensis  operis  sancte  marie  unam  capellam  ad  honorem  et  reverentiam 
dei,  et  beate  marie  virginis,  et  illorum  sanctorum  in  quorum  solempni- 
tate  dominus  dedit  senensibus  victoriam  de  inimicis,  cum  oporteat  cap- 
pellam  sancti  jacobi  destrui  pro  ornatu  episcopatus ;  et  in  illo  loco  quern 
predicti  ordines  approbaverint  et  ordinaverint  dicta  cappella  fiat  ex- 
pensis operis  sancte  marie. 

(10.*)  De  revidendis  et  aptiandis  domibus  que  sunt  circa  operam  sancte 

marie. 

Et  per  totum  mensem  februarii  faciam  consilium  campane  in  quo 
proponam  et  consilium  petam  de  facienda  platea,  et  revidendis  et  emen- 
dis  et  aptiandis  domibus  et  hedificiis  que  sunt  circa  operam  sancte 
marie  maioris  ecclesie  senensis  ex  parte  posteriori,  et  quicquid  exinde 
consilium  vel  maior  pars  dixerit  ut  eius  expensis  debeat  fieri,  ita  fa- 
ciam et  complebo. 

(n.)  De  emenda  domo filiorum  dainelli. 

Cum  per  domum  emptam  a  comuni  senarum  que  fuit  filiorum  trojani 
platea  que  est  post  opus  beate  marie  virginis,  dicta  platea  non  possit 
iam  explanari  ut  homines  et  persone  possint  comode  ingredi  dictam 
ecclesiam,  et  sic  expense  ille  sint  ammisse  et  nullius  valoris,  statuimus 
et  ordinamus  quod  domus  filiorum  dainelli  de  arbiola  ematur  a  comu- 
ni senarum  pro  explananda  et  actanda  platea  ad  hoc,  ut  facilius  ingres- 
sus  sit  omnibus  volentibus  inde  intrare  dictam  ecclesiam ;  et  dicta  emp- 
tio  fiat  secundum  extimationem  trium  bonorum  hominum  qui  eligan- 
tur  per  camerarium  et  quatuor  provisores  comunis  senarum ;  et  dicti 
tres  sit  unus  de  civitate  veteri,  et  alius  de  valle  sancti  martini,  et  alius 
de  terzerio  camollie ;  que  domus  destruantur  et  mittantur  per  totum 
mensem  aprilis,  et  aptetur  ita  dicta  platea  quod  homines  et  persone  li- 
bere  et  facile  possint  intrare  dictam  ecclesiam ;  lateres  vero  et  hedificia 
dictarum  domorum  vendantur  pro  comuni  senarum  et  pretium  eorum 
detur  in  emptionem  dictarum  domorum,  et  dicti  tres  jurent  de  novo 
bona  fide  sine  fraude  facere  rectam  et  legalem  extimationem  dictarum 
domorum,  et  predicta  fiant  non  obstante  aliquo  capitulo  constituti. 

*  This  and  the  following  rubric  have  been  cancelled  by  an  ancient  hand. 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA.  299 

(12.)  De  compellendis  habentibus  bestias  pro  salmis  reducer e  marmora 

operis  sancte  marie. 

Et  compellam  omnes  et  singulos  habentes  bestias  ad  somam  in  civi- 
tate  senarum  bis  in  anno  reducere  vel  reduci  facere  marmora  operis 
sancte  marie,  et  hoc  faciam  si  dominus  episcopus  fecerit  uni  cuique 
eorum  indulgentiam  unius  anni  de  iniuncta  sibi  penitentia  pro  una  qua- 
que  salma. 

(13.)  De  judice  dando  super  cognoscendis  legatis  factis  operi  sancte  marie 

et  fratribus  predicatoribus  et  minor ibus  et  aliis  locis  religiosis. 
Et  dabo  seu  delegabo  operi  sancte  marie  de  senis  et  eius  sindico  vel 
procuratori  unum  judicem  qui  summatim  et  extra  ordinem,  sine  so- 
lempnitate  judiciorum,  et  sine  libello  et  petitione,  cognoscat  de  judiciis 
factis  dicte  opere,  et  ad  solutionem  compellat  eos  qui  solvere  debent 
vel  debebunt.  Et  hec  eadem  observabo  de  relictis  factis  fratribus  pre- 
dicatoribus et  fratribus  minoribus  de  senis,  et  monasterio  sancti  galga- 
ni,  et  dominabus  de  sancta  petronilla,  et  de  sancto  prospero,  et  hospi- 
tali  sancte  marie  et  malagdis  de  terzole,  de  corpore  sancto  et  heremitis 
et  dominabus  de  sancto  laurentio,  et  servis  sancte  marie,  et  administra- 
toribus  et  curatoribus  pauperum  civitatis  senarum,  et  dominabus  de 
sancto  mamilliano,  et  aliis  locis  religiosis;  etiam  quod  supradictis  om- 
nibus valeant  dispositiones  facte  coram  tribus  testibus  masculis  puberi- 
bus  sicut  valerent  pro  civibus  senensibus,  et  quod  potestas  vel  consules 
placiti,  seu  iudex  comunis,  teneantur  ad  petitionem  seu  relationem  ju- 
dicis  positi  super  hoc  exbamnire  et  exbamniri  facere  illos  qui  tenentur 
et  debent  dictis  locis  relicta  et  judicia  et  dare  tenutas  et  possessiones 
ad  voluntatem  sindici  predictorum  locorum,  sine  alia  pronuntiatione 
seu  sententia  lata  a  dicto  judice,  et  quod  teneatur  dictus  judex  termi- 
nare  questiones  coram  se  ceptas  de  predictis  infra  mensem  postquam 
cepte  fuerint,  nisi  remaneret  parabola  conquerentis. 


The  next  document  shows  how  the  magistracy  of 
Siena  dealt  with  a  town  under  the  dominion  of  the 
commune  that  was  refractory  in,  the  discharge  of  the 
service  required  of  it  for  the  opera.  See  text  p.  98. 

II. 

A.D.  1262. 

Die  sabbati  xiij  kalendas  iunii. 
Facto  et  congregate  consilio  xxiiijor  in  domo  Mini  Fieri  ad  sonum 


APPENDIX. 

campane  grosse  populi  ad  ritocchum,  a  nobili  viro  domino  Gherardino 
de  Piis,  Dei  et  regia  gratia  Capitaneo  populi  et  Comunis  Senarum,  ut 
moris  est.  In  quo  consilio  lectis  diligenter  licteris  infrascriptis  que 
mictuntur  illis  de  Monticiano,  dicte  lictere  per  dictum  consilium  fue- 
runt  firmate,  et  sic  mitti  voluerunt  et  observate.  Forma  quarum  licte- 
rarum  talis  est : — Gherardinus  de  Piis,  Dei  et  regia  gratia  Capitaneus 
populi  et  Comunis  Senarum,  et  ipsi  Priores  vigintiquatuor,  providis 
viris  Rectori,  Camerario,  Consilio  et  Comuni  de  Monticiano  salutem  et 
amorem  sincerum.  Recolimus  vobis  alia  vice  nostras  licteras  desti- 
nasse  ut  lignamina  que  expediunt  operi  sante  Marie  pro  iusto  et  de- 
centi  pretio  Senas  deferre  deberetis,  cumque  mandatum  nostrum  transi- 
eritis  surda  aure  grave  ferimus  et  molestum ;  quare  vobis  universis  et 
singulis  firmiter  et  districte  precipiendo  mandamus,  ad  penam  et  ban- 
num  centum  marcharum  argenti  Comuni  vestro,  et  viginti  quinque  li- 
brarum  denariorum  senensium  ab  uno  quoque  vecturalium  terre  vestre 
auferendum;  precipiendo  mandamus  quatenus  lignamina  dicta  ubicum- 
que  sunt  pro  dicto  opere  deferatis  pretio  condecenti,  alioquin  contra 
vos  ad  exbanniendum  et  condennandum  acriter  procedemus ;  ita  quod 
de  vestra  inobedientia  nullum  cognoscetis  comodum  reportare.  Nos 
autem  faciemus  vobis  solvi  de  labore  vestro  pro  ut  iustum  fuerit  atque 
decens. 

Consiglio  Generate,  tomo  x.  f.  35. 


Documents  III.  and  IV.  relate  to  the  choice  of  the 
operaio  and  of  a  committee  of  the  works.* 

III. 

A.D.  1272. 

Anno  Domini  Millesimo  cclxxij  indictione  xiiij  die  vij  mensis  maii. 
Appareat  omnibus  manifeste  quod  congregate  generali  Consilio  Comu- 
nis Senarum  in  ecclesia  Sancti  Cristofori,  more  solito  congregatum  ad 

*  The  first  operaio  of  whom  I  find  mention  was  Frater  Vernaccius,  or  Fra 
Vernaccio,  of  San  Galgano,  in  the  year  1257-8.  (Perg.  221,  in  the  series  of  the 
Opera  Metropolitana  di  Siena.)  San  Galgano  was  a  monastery  of  the  Cistercian 
order  in  the  diocese  of  Volterra.  It  continued  to  supply  operaii  to  the  Duomo  of 
Siena  for  almost  half  a  century.  Fra  Vernaccio  was  succeeded  in  1259-60  by 
Fra  Melano  (see  text,  p.  102),  who  remained  at  the  head  of  the  works  for  sixteen 
or  seventeen  years,  during  which  the  greater  part  of  the  old  Duomo,  so  called, 
was  erected.  In  1277  the  name  of  Fra  Villa  appears  as  that  of  the  operaio  (Perg. 
374).  He  was  succeeded  in  1280  by  Fra  Magio,  or  Maso  (Perg.  391) ;  and  he,  in 
turn,  in  1290,  by  Fra  Giacomo  (Libra  della  Biccherna,  Oct.,  1290)  ;  and  he,  in  1292, 
by  Fra  Chiaro  (Perg.  476) ;  and  he,  in  1298,  by  Fra  Fazio  (Perg.  626) — all  from  the 
same  monastery.  To  these  Cistercians  the  old  cathedral  owes  all  that  is  best  in 
its  construction. 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUO  MO  OF  SIENA. 


301 


sonum  campane  et  per  bannum  missum,  dominus  Orlandinus  de  Canos- 
sio,  Dei  et  regia  gratia  Potestas  Comunis  Senensis,  cum  consjlio,  con- 
sensu,  et  expressa  parabola  et  auctoritate  domini  Renaldi  domini  Re- 
naldini  camerarii,  et  Bartolomei  Crescenzi,  domini  Tomagii  iudicis, 
Gonterii  domini  Palmerii,  et  domini  Scotie  de  Talomeis,  quatuor  pro- 
visorum  Comunis  dicti,  et  consensu  et  auctoritate  dicti  Consilii,  et  eius- 
dem  voluntate  expressa,  et  ipsi  iidem  camerarius  et  quatuor  provisores 
Comunis,  et  Consilium  predictum  fecerunt,  constituerunt,  creaverunt  et 
ordinaverunt  Fratrem  Melanum,  Monasterii  Sancti  Galgani  ordinis 
Cestelli,  licet  absentem,  factorem,  ordinatorem  et  operarium  opere  seu 
operis  Sancte  Marie  Maioris  Ecclesie  Senensis,  ad  facendum  fieri,  ope- 
rari,  et  compleri  dictam  operam  et  omnia  que  fuerint  opportuna  dicte 
opere.  Et  fecerunt,  constituerunt  et  ordinaverunt  ipsum  sindicum,  ac- 
torem,  factorem,  et  procuratorem  predicte  opere,  ad  petendum  et  exi- 
gendum,  recolligendum  et  recipiendum,  nomine  dicte  opere  et  pro  ea, 
omne  et  quolibet  debitum,  legatum  seu  relictum  ipse  opere  et  eius  causa 
a  quacumque  persona  et  loco ;  et  ad  liberandum  et  absolvendum  omnes 
et  singulos  debitores  eiusdem ;  et  ad  cedendum  iura  et  ad  facendum 
instrumenta  et  cartas  seu  apocas  de  soluto  et  de  cessionibus  iurium ;  et 
ad  transigendum,  componendum  finem,  et  refutationem  facendum,  et 
ad  cipiendum  mutuum  pro  dicta  opera,  et  ad  obligandum  bona  ipsius ; 
et  ad  vendendum  bona  prefate  opere,  et  ad  omnia  et  singula  faciendum 
que  cognoverit  utilia  expedire  dicte  opere.  Et  dederunt,  concesserunt 
et  mandaverunt  eidem  Fratri  Melano  generalem  et  liberam  administra- 
tionem  in  predictis  et  circa  predicta,  et  que  verus  et  legictimus  opera- 
rius  et  administrator  et  factor  facere  potest.  Et  promiserunt  quod 
quicquid  per  eum  factum  fuerit  ratum  et  firmum  habere,  et  tenere,  et 
contra  non  venire  aliqua  ratione,  iure  vel  occasione,  sub  obligatione  bo- 
norum  dicti  Comunis. 

Actum  Senis  in  ecclesia  Sancti  Cristofori,  coram  Martino  Guarrerii 
et  Gilio  coiario  \lacuna\  castaldis  Comunis  Senensis  testibus  pre- 
sentibus. 

Ego  Bonaventura  notarius,  olim  Bonaguide,  nunc  Comunis  Sen.,  scri- 
ba,  predictis  interfui,  et  quod  super  legitur,  mandato  predicte  Potestatis 
et  Consilii,  scripsi  et  publicavi. 

Ego  Guido  Rubeus  quondam  Jannis,  iudex  et  notarius,  que  supra  con- 
tinentur  vidi  et  legi  in  instrumento  autentico  et  illeso  per  dictum  Bo- 
naventuram  notarium  publicato,  et  ea  ex  inde  sumpsi,  et  nichilo  addito 
vel  dempto  preter  signum  ipsius  notarii,  in  hac  pagina  fideliter  exem- 
plavi  et  scripsi,  et  una  cum  Bartolomeo  Cerigi  notario  et  dicto  autenti- 
co diligenter  legi  et  auscultavi ;  et  facta  de  predictis  insinuatione  dili- 
genti,  Senis  in  ecclesia  Sancti  Cristofori,  in  anno  Domini  Millesimo 
ducentesimo  septuagesimo  secundo,  indictione  prima,  die  duodecimo 
kalendas  octubris,  in  presentia  domini  Bonaguide  iudicis  filii  quondam 


APPENDIX. 

Gregorii  Boccaccii,  et  Bonensegne  quondam  Ugolini,  qui  vocatur  Bo- 
nensegna  Unctus,  consulum  placiti  Senarum,  in  ecclesia  dicta,  more  so- 
lito,  pro  tribunal!  sedentium,  et  apud  ipsos  huic  insinuation!  auctorita- 
tem  suam  prestantes,  coram  Bernardo  notario  quondam  Ranerii  Torto- 
nis,  Ugolino  quondam  Ranerii  Guinisio,  Diotisalvi  vocato  Nigli  Ciolo 
quondam  Provenzani,  et  Jacobino  Benzi  testibus  presentibus  de  ipso- 
rum  consulum  mandato  mihi  facto,  coram  testibus  eisdem  loco  et  die 
proxime  dictis,  in  publicam  formam  redegi  et  meum  signum  apposui. 
Opera  Metropolitana  di  Siena. 

IV. 

A.D.   1280. 

Die  lune  xvj  decembris. 

In  nomine  Domini  amen. — Factum  est  generate  Consilium  campane 
Comunis  Senarum  choadunatum  ad  sonum  campane  et  per  bannum  mis- 
sum  in  palatio  filiorum  Jacobi  de  Platea  posito  in  Galgaria,  ab  illustri 
et  magnifico  viro  domino  Matheo  Rubeo  de  filiis  Ursi,  Dei  gratia  Po- 
testate  Senarum,  in  quo  proposuit  et  consilium  petiit.  Quod  cum  audi- 
veritis  legi  capitulum  statuti  quod  loquitur : — et  faciam  Consilium  Co- 
munis  Senarum  per  totum  mensem  januarii  de  providendo  ut  ponantur 
iiijor  homines  inter  quos  sit  unus  ex  consulibus  mercatorum  qui  revi- 
deant  rationem  reddituum,  proventuum  et  expensarum  operis  Sancte 
Marie  et  qualiter  in  dicto  opere  procedatur  et  de  habendo  operario  uno 
vel  pluribus. ... 

Rustichettus  Guidon  is  Jacobi  consuluit  et  dixit,  quod  iiijor  qui  debent 
eligi  super  providendo  debito  operis  Sancte  Marie  eligantur  per  do- 
minum  Potestatem  et  eius  curiam  et  Quindecim  secundum  formam 
statuti  Senarum,  et  quod  per  eos  factum  fuerit  teneat  et  sit  firmum. .  .  . 

Jacobus  Sardus  super  providendo  de  debito  operis  Sancte  Marie  et 
super  eligendis  iiijor  inter  quos  sit  unus  ex  consulibus  mercatorum  con- 
suluit, quod  eligantur  secundum  formam  statuti,  et  quod  ipsi  idem  elect! 
habeant  revidere  rationem  reddituum  et  proventuum  dicti  operis,  et 
quod  sit  in  eorum  provisione  de  habendo  uno  operario  tantum.  .  . . 

Dominus  Bandinus  judex,  super  facto  operis  consuluit,  quod  eligantur 
dicti  iiijor  secundum  formam  statuti,  et  per  eos  rationem  redituum  dili- 
genter  debeat  revideri. . . . 

Consilium  super  revidendo  ratione  redituum  operis  Sancte  Marie 
fuit  in  concordia  cum  dicto  Rustichetti. 

Consiglio  della  Campana,  tomo  xxiv.  f.  7. 

In  regard  to  the  following  document,  see  the  preced- 
ing text,  p.  135,  concerning  the  release  of  prisoners  on 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA.  303 

the  Feast  of  the  Assumption,  and  the  proposal  to  leave 
to  Pier  Pettignano  the  choice  of  captives  to  be  freed.* 

V. 

A.D.   1282. 
Die  martis  xj  augusti. 

In  Dei  nomine  amen.  Factum  est  generale  Consilium  campane  Comu- 
nis  Senarum,  Dominorum  xv,  Gubernatorum  Comunis  et  populi  Sena- 
rum,  ad  eorum  requisitionem  et  petitionem,  in  palatio  filiorum  Talome- 
orum  et  filiorum  Serre  Jacobi  de  Platea,  ad  sonum  campane  et  per  ban- 
num  missum  publice  per  civitatem  Senarum  ut  moris  est,  coadunatum 
a  nobili  et  prudenti  viro  domino  Oddo  Altoviti  de  Florentia  Judice, 
nunc  in  loco  magnifici  et  illustris  viri  domini  Guidonis  Salvatici,  Dei 
gratia  in  Tuscia  Comitis  Palatini,  et  nunc  eadem  gratia  honorabilis 
Potestatis  Senarum,  facta  prius  de  infrascriptis  imposita  de  conscientia 
camerarii  et  iiijor  provisorum  Comunis  Senarum,  apud  palatium  ipsius 
domini  Comitis  Potestatis,  secundum  formam  statuti  Senarum.  In  quo 
quidem  consilio  proposuit  et  consilium  petiit,  quod  cum  dicatur  quod 
sit  consuetudo  in  civitate  Senarum  in  festivitatibus  beate  Marie  sem- 
per virginis  de  mense  agusti,  quod  festum  principaliter  celebratur  per 
Comune  et  homines  civitatis  Senarum  ad  reverentiam  Jesu  Christi  et 
matris  eius  sanctissime  ac  beate  Virginis  Marie,  et  ad  exaltationem 
Comunis  et  civitatis  Senarum  et  eius  districtus,  relaxare  aliquos  ex 
carceratis  Comunis  Senarum, — si  placet  vobis  quod  aliqui  ex  carceratis 
Comunis  Senarum  in  proxima  festivitate  beate  ac  gloriose  Marie  sem- 
per virginis  huius  mensis  relaxentur  et  relaxari  debeant  per  Comune 
Senarum,  qui  et  quot,  et  per  quos  inveniantur  illi  qui  debuerint  relaxari 
de  carceribus  Comunis  Senarum ;  quid  vobis  videtur  quod  faciendum 
sit  super  predictis  pro  meliori  et  utiliori  Comunis  Senatum  in  dei  no- 
mine consulatis.  .  .  . 

Jacobus  domini  Renaldi  Gilii  consuluit  et  dixit,  quod  Pierus  Pettina- 
rius  hinc  ad  diem  beate  Marie  Virginis  debeat  invenire  x  ex  pregioni- 
bus  Comunis  Senarum  pauperioribus  quos  invenire  poterit  et  illi  quos 
invenerit  relaxentur.  .  .  . 

Dominus  Bartalomeus  Seracini  consuluit  et  dixit,  quod  relaxentur  ex 

*  Mr.  Forsyth,  who  was  in  Siena  at  the  festival  of  the  Assumption  in  1802,  wit- 
nessed the  celebration  of  the  Beatification  of  Pier  Pettignano.  He  says,  in  his 
Remarks  on  Italy — a  book  still  eminent  among  the  many  volumes  of  Italian  travel 
— "  The  Pope  had  reserved  for  this  great  festival  the  Beatification  of  Peter,  a  Se- 
nese  comb-maker,  whom  the  Church  had  neglected  to  canonize  till  now.  Poor 
Peter  was  honored  with  all  the  solemnity  of  musick,  high-mass,  an  officiating  car- 
dinal, a  florid  panegyrick,  pictured  angels  bearing  his  tools  to  heaven,  and  comb- 
ing their  own  hair  as  they  soared ;  but  he  received  five  hundred  years  ago  a 
greater  honor  than  all,  a  verse  of  praise  from  Dante." 


APPENDIX. 

pregionibus  pauperibus  et  pro  minori  culpa  detentis,  qui  eligentur  per 
guardianum  minorum  et  fratrum  predicatorum,  et  cum  deliberatione  do- 
minorum  xv.sub  ista  condictione.quod  non  relaxentur  aliqui  ex  prodito- 
ribus  civitatis  Senarum,  vel  qui  dederint  in  prodictione  auxilium  vel  fa- 
vorem,  nee  aliquis  qui  alia  vice .fuerit  oblatus  per  Comune  Senarum.  .  .  . 

Johannes  Provinus  consuluit  et  dixit,  quod  de  carceratis  relaxentur 
usque  xviij  pro  minori  et  leviori  culpa,  et  ad  inveniendum  eos  sit  et 
esse  debeat  unus  frater  de  predicatoribus  et  unus  de  minoribus  quos  eo-  ' 
rum  priores  voluerint,  et  compagnus  domini  Episcopi,  et  Pietrus  Pet- 
tinarius.  .  .  . 

Dominus  Ricovarus  judex  consuluit  et  dixit,  quod  ad  honorem  Dei 
et  beate  Marie  Virginis  relaxentur  usque  x  de  pauperioribus  pregioni- 
bus qui  sunt  in  carceribus  Comunis,  exceptis  de  hoc  numero  proditori- 
bus  et  rebellibus  et  condempnatis  pro  maleficiis  et  pro  robbariis  strata- 
rum,  et  quod  isti  x  eligantur  et  cernantur  per  [dominos]  xv,  et  quod,  in- 
ventis  de  xv,  legantur  in  consilio  generali  eorum  nomina  et  pronomina, 
et  postea  pro  quolibet  fiat  scrutinium  per  palloctas  ita  quod  quilibet 
qui  habuerit  plures  palloctas  quod  debeat  relassari  relaxetur,  et  aliter 
non,  et  non  vult  quod  relaxentur  aliqui  qui  alias  fuerint  oblati.  .  .  . 

Soczus  domini  Bandinelli  consuluit  et  dixit,  quod  relaxentur  xx  de 
carceratis  Comunis  hoc  modo,  quod  eligantur  et  cernantur  per  dominos 
xv  et  per  ordines  civitatis,  inter  quos  vult  quod  sint  homines  Guelfi  qui 
fuerint  defensores  pacifici  status  Comunis  Senarum  et  officii  domino- 
rum  xv ;  inter  quos  non  vult  quod  possit  esse  aliquis  proditor  vel  rebel- 
lis  Comunis  Senarum,  nee  aliquis  alias  relaxatus  vel  oblatus,  nee  aliquis 
de  Licignano  Aretii,  sed  de  amicis  et  pauperioribus  et  pro  levi  culpa 
detentis,  et  excipit  illos  qui  fuerint  ad  prelium  in  civitate  Senarum  con- 
tra Comune  et  populum  Senarum,  et  illos  qui  steterint  in  turri  ad  fa- 
ciendam  guerram,  et  quod  postea  dicti  xx  sic  electi  legantur  in  consilio 
campane.  .  .  . 

Consilium  fuit  in  concordia  in  predictis  omnibus  cum  dicto  Soczo 
domini  Bandinelli. 

Consiglio  della  Compana,  tomo  xxvi.  f.  1 1. 


Donation  by  the  Commune  of  eight  hundred  lire  for 
the  prosecution  of  the  work  on  the  Duomo.     See  text, 

p.  140. 

VI. 

A.D.   1290. 

Die  20  mensis  octubris. 

In  nomine  Domini  amen.     Factum  est  generale  Consilium  campane 
Comunis  Senarum,  consulum  militum,  consulum  mercatonJm,  consu- 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUO  MO  OF  SIENA.  305 

lum  artis  lane  et  dominorum  artium,  et  L  per  terzerium,  a  magnifico  et 
potenti  milite  domino  Johanne  domini  Arcorimboni  de  Camerino,  Dei 
gratia  honorabili  Potestate  Senarum,  facta  primo  imposita  de  infra- 
scriptis  de  conscientia  et  voluntate  camerarii  et  quatuor  provisorum 
Comunis  Senarum,  apud  palatium  dicti'domini  Potestatis  secundum  for- 
mam  constituti  senensis,  congregatum  in  palatio  Comunis  Senarum,  de 
mandate  dicti  domini  Potestatis,  ad  sonum  campane  et  per  bannum 
missum  ut  moris  est, — in  quo  proposuit  et  consilium  petiit  quod  cum 
operarius  operis  beate  Virginis  Marie  petat  a  Comuni  Senarum  certam 
quantitatem  pecunie  pro  dicto  opere  et  necessitate  dicti  operis,  quam 
pecuniam  dictus  operarius  non  habet,  et  sine  dicta  pecunia  in  dicto 
opere  procedi  non  possit,  et  labo*rerium  jam  inceptum  non  posset  ad 
laudem  effectui  produci,  et  firmatum  sit  per  dominos  xviij,  Guberna- 
tores  et  defensores  Comunis  et  populi  Senarum,  facto  partito  ad  scrup- 
tineum  per  palloctas  secundum  formam  constituti,  quod  de  pecunia  et 
auro  Comunis  operario  supradicto  pro  predicto  opere  et  necessitate 
dicti  operis  donentur  viijc  libre  denariorum  senensium  ad  voluntatem 
dicti  operarii,  et  postmodum  sequente  die  sit  similiter  firmatum  per 
ordines  civitatis,  silicet  per  dominos  xviij  et  quattuor  provisores  comu- 
nis  et  consules  militum  et  consules  mercatorum,  facto  partito  ad  scrupti- 
neum  et  per  palloctas  secundum  formam  constituti,  quod  dicte  viijc  li- 
bre denariorum  donentur  dicto  operario  pro  dicto  opere  faciendo  ad 
eius  voluntatem  et  requisitionem,  de  pecunia  et  avere  Comunis  Senarum 
prout  firmatum  et  stantiatum  est  per  ordines  supradictos,  Unde  si  placet 
vobis  quod  dicta  pecunia  donetur  ut  dictum  est  in  Dei  nomine  consulatis. 

Dominus  Albertus  Syndicus  comunis  senarum  contradixit  supradicte 
imposite  secundum  formam  constituti  senensis. 

Dominus  Nerius  judex  consuluit  et  dixit,  quod  dicte  viijc  libre  dena- 
riorum ob  honorem  et  reverentiam  beate  Marie  semper  Virginis  de- 
fenditricis  et  gubernatricis  Comunis  et  populi  Senarum  donentur  de  avere 
et  pecunia  Comunis  Senarum  dicto  Operario  pro  dicto  opere  faciendo 
et  ad  laudem  et  effectum  producendo,  ad  voluntatem  et  requisitionem 
dicti  operarii,  et  quod  camerarius  et  quattuor  teneantur  dictam  quanti- 
tatem pecunie  dicto  operario  dare,  et  quod  debeant  omnia  contenta  in 
imposita  per  dominos  potestatem  et  dominos  xviij  et  camerarium  et 
quattuor  ex  comuni  mandari. 

Consilium  fuit  in  concordia  cum  dicto  dicti  domini  Neri  judicis,  facto 
et  misso  partito  secundum  formam  constituti  et  ad  scruptineum,  ipso 
scruptineo  diligenter  facto,  quia  in  Bossolo  del  ^'fuerunt  invente  ccxviiij 
pallocte  et  in  ilia  del  no  xij  pallocte  per  duas  partes  et  plus. 

Consiglio  della  Campana,  tomo  xl.  f.  50. 


The  following  document  does  not  bear  directly  on 

20 


APPENDIX. 

the  story  of  the  Duomo ;  but  it  affords  such  interesting 
illustration  of  the  conditions  of  the  times,  and  relates 
to  a  character  so  well  known,  that  it  deserves  to  be 
printed.  Ghin  di  Tacco  has  received  immortality  from 
Dante  and  Boccaccio.  Dante  speaks  of  "  le  braccia 
fiere  di  Ghin  di  Tacco,"*  and  Boccaccio,  in  an  excel- 
lent story  of  his  dealings  with  the  Abbot  of  Cligni,  de- 
scribes him  as  "  a  man  famous  for  his  bold  and  insolent 
robberies,  who,  being  banished  from  Siena,  caused  the 
town  of  Radicofani  to  rebel  against  the  Church,  and 
lived  there  while  his  gang  robbed  all  who  passed  that 
way."f  "This  terrible  Ghino  di  Tacco,"  says  Mr. 
Longfellow,  in  his  note  on  Dante's  verse, "  was  a  noble- 
man of  Asinalunga,  in  the  territory  of  Siena;  one  of 
those  splendid  fellows  who,  from  some  real  or  imagi- 
nary wrong  done  them,  take  to  the  mountains  and 
highways  to  avenge  themselves  on  society.  He  is  the 
true  type  of  the  traditionary  stage  bandit,  the  magnan- 
imous melodramatic  hero  who  utters  such  noble  sen- 
timents and  commits  such  atrocious  deeds." 

VII. 

De  castro  construcfo  per  D.  Ghinum  Tachi  inter  Asinam  Longam  et 

Guardavalle. 

A.D.  1297. 
Die  mercurii  UijQ  decembris. 

In  nomine  Domini  amen.  Ex  precepto  nobilis  militis  domini  Acti  de 
Corinatto  Dei  gratia  honorabilis  Potestatis  Senarum,  et  nobilis  militis 
domini  Cervii  de  Bonatteriis  de  Bononia  eadem  gratia  honorabilis  Ca- 
pitanei  Comunis  et  populi  Senarum,  generali  consilio  campane  Comunis 
et  populi  supradicti,  cum  adiuncta  quinquaginta  per  terzerium  de  rado- 
ta,  in  palatio  dicti  Comunis,  ad  sonum  campane  et  vocem  preconum 
more  solito  congregate,  facta  prius  imposita  de  infrascriptis  de  conscien- 
tia  et  consensu  domini  camerarii  et  duorum  ex  quattuor  provisoribus 

*  Purgatoriff,  vi.  14.  t  Decamei-one,  Nov.  92. 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA.  307 

dicti  Comunis,  apud  palatium  dicti  Comunis,  secundum  formam  statuti, 
prefati  domini  Potestas  et  Capitaneus  proposuerunt  in  dicto  consilio  et 
consilium  petierunt: — 

Quod  cum  ad  audientiam  dominorum  Novem,  gubernatorum  et  de- 
fensorum  Comunis  et  populi  Senarum,  relatu  pervenerit  plurimorum 
quod  per  dominum  Ghinum  Tachi  inter  Asinam  longam  et  Guarda- 
valle  construebatur  quedam  fortellitia  seu  castrum,  et  ipsi  domini  No- 
vem, volentes  de  hiis  scire  plenarie  veritatem,  ad  dictum  locum  mise- 
runt  aliquos  bonos  homines  et  legales  per  quos  redacta  fuerunt  in 
scriptis  ea  que  reperierunt  de  predictis,  sicut  legi  audivistis  in  presenti 
consilio,  super  quibus  dicti  domini  Novem  per  se  ipsos  nolunt  aliquid 
providere,  sed  habito  consilio  et  tractatu  super  predictis  cum  pluribus 
sapientibus  et  bonis  hominibus  civitatis  extitit  per  eos  concorditer  sta- 
bilitum,  quod  hec  omnia  ad  presens  consilium  ponerentur,  et  sicut  super 
hiis  placeret  presenti  consilio  providere  et  ordinare  ita  fient  et  debent 
executioni  mandari ; — Quid  super  hiis  et  circa  ea  pro  bono  et  pacifico 
statu  civitatis,  comitatus  et  jurisdictionis  Senarum,  et  ad  evitandam  om- 
nem  materiam  dubii,  scandali  et  erroris  sit  agendum,  in  Dei  nomine 
consulatis. 

Meus  Ormanni  super  facto  domini  Ghini  Tachi  dixit  et  consuluit, 
quod  per  dominos  Novem  eligantur  iiijor  boni  homines  et  legales  per 
terzerium  qui  stare  debeant  in  palatio  Comunis  Senarum  et  sentire  et 
invenire  novitatem  que  sit  per  dictum  dominum  Ghinum  Tachi,  et,  ea 
inventa  et  scita,  postea  super  dicto  negotio  provideant,  ordinent  et  fa- 
ciant  ea  omnia  que  pro  honore  et  statu  Comunis  Senarum  viderint  et 
cognoverint  convenire,  et  quicquid  ipsi  in  ipso  et  de  ipso  negotio  provi- 
derint,  ordinaverint  et  fecerint  observetur  et  fiat  et  executioni  mande- 
tur.  .  .  . 

Jacobus  domini  Renaldi  Gilii  super  facto  domini  Ghini  Tachi  dixit 
et  consuluit,  quod  pro  parte  Comunis  Senarum  precipiatur  hominibus 
de  contrata  ubi  sit  dicta  fortillitia  sive  castrum,  et  illi  seu  illis  qui  fa- 
ciunt  vel  fieri  faciunt  dictum  castrum,  quod  ipsi  in  dicto  loco  non  fa- 
ciant  nee  fieri  faciant  aliquam  fossam,  carbonariam,  murum  castella- 
num,  sive  aliquam  fortillitiam,  et  si  predicti  ab  ipso  precepto  in  antea 
facerent  vel  fieri  facerent  novitatem,  quod  dominus  Potestas  et  Capita- 
neus et  Novem  qui  nunc  sunt,  vel  pro  tempore  fuerint,  mictant  ad  partes 
illas  masnadam  Comunis,  que  masnada  capiat  personaliter  quoscumque 
invenerit  in  loco  predicto,  et,  ipsis  captis,  postea  suspendantur  per  gulam 
ita  quod  moriantur ;  et  vult  quod  si  ibi  est  facta  aliqua  novitas  preter 
rnuros  domorum  et  domos  quod  talis  novitas  usque  funditus  destrua- 
tur 

Tuccius  Alexi  super  facto  domini  Ghini  Tachi  consuluit,  quod  pro 
parte  Comunis  Senarum  per  quemdam  numptium  dicti  Comunis  preci- 
piatur illi  seu  illis  qui  faciunt  vel  fieri  faciunt  novitatem  predictam, 


3o3 


APPENDIX. 


quod  in  ipso  loco  non  faciant  amplius  novitatem,  et  si  a  dicto  precepto 
in  antea  aliquid  novi  fieret,  quod  talis  novitas  destruatur  expensis  illo- 
rum  qui  talem  facerent  vel  fieri  facerent  novitatem,  hoc  salvo,  quod  si 
illi  qui  faciunt  vel  fieri  faciunt  ipsam  novitatem  voluerint  comparere 
coram  domino  Potestate  et  domino  Capitaneo  et  dominis  Novem  et  ali- 
quid petierint  ab  eisdem,  quod  tune  fieri  possit  in  eo  loco  id  quod  de 
ipsorum  dominorum  processerit  voluntate  et  non  ultra. 

Ser  Jacobus  Sardus  dixit  et  consuluit  super  facto  domini  Ghini,  quod 
super  dicto  negotio  fiat  scruptinium  hoc  modo,  quicumque  vult  quod 
novitas  facta  et  que  fit  per  dominum  Ghinum  tollatur  et  destruatur  et 
non  procedatur  ulterius  in  ipso  facto  mictat  palloctam  in  pisside  albo, 
et  quicumque  vult  quod  fiat  ipsa  novitas  et  fieri  possit  mittat  palloctam 
in  pisside  nigro,  et  sicut  tune  per  palloctas  obtentum  fuerit  ita  fiat  et 
executioni  mandetur. 

Frederigus  domini  Renaldi  de  Tholomeis  super  facto  domini  Ghini 
Tachi  dixit  et  consuluit,  quod  dictum  negotium  totum  remictit  in  domi- 
num Potestatem  et  Capitaneum  Comunis  Senarum,  et  quod  super  dicto 
facto,  tarn  in  faciendo  destrui  ipsam  novitatem  quam  dimittendo  esse, 
procedant  et  faciant  quicquid  eis  pro  honore  et  statu  Comunis  Senarum 
viderint  et  cognoverint  convenire,  et  quicquid  ipsi  in  predictis  et  circa 
ea  providerint  et  ordinaverintobserveturet  fiat  et  executioni  mandetur. 

Rustichettus  Guidi  de  Cortabrachis  super  facto  domini  Ghini  Tachi 
dixit  et  consuluit,  quod  quidam  numptius  Comunis  Senarum  pro  parte 
died  Comunis  mictatur  ad  locum  ubi  fit  novitas  supradicta,  et  per  ipsum 
numptium  precipiatur  pro  parte  Comunis  Senarum  illi  seu  illis  qui  fa- 
ciunt vel  fieri  faciunt  novitatem  predictam,  quod  ipsam  novitatem  et 
quiquid  factum  est  in  loco  predicto  incontinent!  destruant,  et  plus  non 
faciant  ullo  modo,  et  si  per  eum  vel  eos  qui  faciunt  vel  fieri  faciunt  no- 
vitatem predictam  dictum  preceptum  observabitur  et  adimplebitur 
bene  quidem ;  alias  domini  Potestas  et  Capitaneus  Comunis  Senarum 
omnino  procurent  et  faciant  sic  et  taliter  quod  dictum  preceptum  in 
omnibus  observetur  et  executioni  mandetur. 

Genus  Montanini  super  facto  domini  Ghini  Tachi  consuluit  et  dixit, 
quod  ipse  erat  in  concordia  cum  dicto  et  arengamento  Jacobi  domini 
Renaldi  salvo  quod  non  placet  ei,  nee  se  concordat  cum  eo,  quod  pro- 
cedatur ad  suspensionem  hominum  aliquorum. 

Dominus  Arrigus  judex  sindicus  dixit  et  consuluit,  quod  pro  parte 
domini  Potestatis  Senarum  moneatur  dominus  Ghinus  Tachi  quod  cum 
dicta  possessio  ubi  fit  novitas  supradicta  sit  Comunis  Senarum,  ipsam 
possessionem  dimictat  et  ibi  amplius  non  faciat  aliquam  novitatem,  et 
hoc  fiat  si  reperitur  quod  dicta  possessio  sit  Comunis. 

Consilium  fuit  in  concordia  super  facto  domini  Ghini  Tachi  cum 
dicto  et  arengamento  Rustichetti  Guidi  de  Cortabrachis. 

Consiglio  della  Campana,  tomo  Hi.  f.  106. 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA.  309 

I  have,  in  a  note  on  p.  1 54,  spoken  of  the  new  com- 
pilation of  the  statutes  of  Siena  in  1337,  and  given  an 
extract  from  it ;  but  for  the  purpose  of  comparing  the 
provisions  concerning  the  Duomo  with  those  of  the 
statute  of  1260,  I  print  them  here  in  full. 

VIII. 

A.D.   1337. 

In  nomine  Dei  amen.  Incipit  prima  distinctio  constituti  Comunis 
Senarum. 

De  protectione  et  defensione  maioris  ecclesie  beate  Marie  virginis,  et 
episcopatus  Senensis,  et  eorum  bonorum  et  iurium,  et  quod  in  opere 
dicte  ecclesie  continuo  sit  unus  custos,  et  unus  operarius  et  unus  scrip- 
tor  et  sex  consiliarii,  et  de  ipsorum  officio. 

Maiore  ecclesia  episcopatus  Senensis  vacante  pastore,  teneatur  Po- 
testas  Comunis  Senarum  ad  requisitionem  capituli  dicte  ecclesie,  de- 
fendere  et  conservari  facere  bona  dicte  ecclesie  et  episcopatus.  Item 
ad  custodiam  operis  et  laborerii  dicte  ecclesie  continue  moretur  unus 
custos  qui  habeat  ab  operario  dicti  operis  expensas,  et  a  Comuni  Sena- 
rum  quolibet  mense  pro  suo  salario  soldos  xx.  Sitque  continue  ad 
dictum*  opus  complendum  unus  operarius  sciens  legere  et  scribere  qui 
habeat  pro  suo  salario  quolibet  mense  libras  quinque  denariorum ;  et 
possit  dare  libere  de  vino  dicti  operis  servientibus  in  dicto  opere  prout 
eidem  videbitur  pro  melioramento  ipsius  operis.  Sit  etiam  continue  ad 
ipsum  opus  unus  bonus  scriptor  qui  habere  debeat  de  bonis  dicti  operis 
pro  quolibet  mense  pro  sua  mercede  iiijor  libras  denariorum  et  non  ul- 
tra. Et  [sint]  sex  boni  et  legales  viri,  videlicet  duo  de  quolibet  terzerio 
civitatis  Senarum,  in  consiliarios  dicti  operarii  et  operis ;  quorum  con- 
silio  et  provisione  omnia  et  singula  facienda  in  dicto  opere  dictus  ope- 
rarius facere  debeat.  Et  nullum  novum  opus  dictus  operarius  vel  ma- 
gistri  in  dicto  opere  existentes  possint  incipere,  ordinare,  facere  aut 
fieri  facere,  vel  aliquis  eorum,  sine  expressa  licentia  dictorum  consilia- 
riorum  et  capud-magistri,  vel  duarum  partium  ipsorum  ad  minus.  Et 
si  dicti  operarius  et  magistri  vel  aliquis  eorum  contrafaceret  in  aliquo 
intelligatur  omnes  expensas  et  costum  de  suo  proprio  donasse,  et  eo 
casu  dicti  consiliarii  denuntient  vinculo  juramenti  contrafacentem  ma- 
iori  syndico  Comunis  Senarum,  qui  syndicus  cogat  contrafacientem 
ipsas  expensas  integras  satisfacere  et  restituere  dicto  operi,  et  ad  obser- 
vantiam  omnium  predictorum.  Data  dictis  consiliariis  bailia  providendi 
in  augmentando  et  fieri  faciendo  dictum  opus,  et  de  numero  magistro- 
rum  qui  sint  in  dicto  et  pro  dicto  opere,  et  generaliter  in  omnibus  spec- 


APPENDIX. 

tantibus  ad  dictum  opus,  prout  eis  vel  duabus  partibus  ipsorum  videbi- 
tur  convenire ;  et  necessitate  eisdem  imposita  revidendi  bis  in  anno 
ad  minus,  videlicet  quibuslibet  sex  mensibus,  rationem  totius  introitus 
et  expensarum  dicti  operis,  ac  et  semel  ad  minus  quolibet  mense  eorum 
officii  in  simul  conveniendi  ad  tractandum  ea  que  honori  et  utjlitati 
ipsius  operis  crediderint  convenire ;  ipsorum  quolibet  qui  negligens  vel 
remissus  fuerit  in  faciendo  predicta  condempnando  in  xxv  libris  de- 
nariorum  pro  qualibet  vice  per  maiorem  syndicum  supradictum  iuxta 
excusationem  (sic)  semper  salva.  Teneantur  insuper  consiliarii  ante- 
dicti  qualibet  ebdomoda  semel  convenire  simul  cum  dicto  operario, 
vinculo  juramenti,  pro  negotiis  operis  antedicti.  Et  omnis  provisio  que 
per  dictos  consiliarios  vel  duas  partes  eorum  net  de  aliquo  novo  opere 
faciendo  debeat  registrari  per  scriptorem  dicti  operis  in  libro  ipsius 
operis,  ipso  operario  presente,  et  secundum  sic  dictam  provisionem  in 
ipso  opere  procedatur,  et  non  aliter  vel  alio  modo,  sub  dicta  pena.  Quo- 
libet ex  dictis  consiliarii[sj  vacanti  a  dicto  officio  ab  exitu  sui  officii  ad 
duos  annos,  [lacuna]  dictis  et  scriptore  et  sex  consiliariis  eligendis  per  do- 
minos  duodecim  gubernatores  Comunis  Senarum  et  Consules  mercantie, 
quolibet  anno,  de  mense  julii  et  de  mense  decembris,  de  sex  in  sex  men- 
ses, et  prout  eis  videbitur.  Quorum  operarii  et  scriptoris  officium  nullam 
habeat  vacationem.  Et  teneantur  dicti  scriptor  et  operarius  et  eorum 
quilibet  per  se  ordinate  scribere  in  quodam  libro  omnes  introitus  et 
proventus  ipsius  operis,  et  omnes  expensas  et  exitus  ipsius  operis,  et 
tempus,  scilicet  mensem  et  diem,  et  causas  et  a  quibus  proveniunt  in- 
troitus et  quibus  fiunt  expense.  Et  teneantur  iiijor  provisores  Comunis 
ad  requisitionem  dicti  operarii  dare  calcinam  necessariam  dicto  operi. 
Possitque  dictus  operarius  libere  marmora,  portilia,  pretaria  et  lapidi- 
cinia  fodere  et  fodi  facere,  reducere  et  reduci  facere  ad  dictum  opus  ex- 
pensis  Comunis  Senarum,  vel  per  comitatinos  quo  [lacuna]  ad  reductio- 
nem  predictam,  de  quocumque  loco  vel  possessione  invito  eo  cuius  esset 
locus  vel  possessio  ilia  vel  jus  eorum,  dum  modo  dictus  operarius  det 
suum  et  consuetum  drictum  domino  dicte  possessionis  seu  loci  vel  jus 
habenti ;  pena  C.  librarum  denariorum  applicanda  Comuni  Senarum  imi- 
nenti,  contrafacienti  vel  ut  dictum  est  fieri  predicta  non  permictenti ; 
et  nichilominus  cogendo  permictere  fodi  et  reduci  dicta  marmora 
et  lapides  ut  dictum  est. 

De  electione  operarii. 

Per  dominos  duodecim  et  consules  mercantie  civitatis  Senarum  eli- 
gantur  tres  boni  viri  de  civitate  predicta,  qui  tres  sic  electi  scruptinen- 
tur  in  generali  consilio  campane  Comunis  Senarum.  Et  qui  ex  eis 
plures  voces  habuerit,  sit  operarius  dicti  operis,  et  duret  predictum  cius 
offitium'per  unum  annum  a  die  introitus  sui  officii  computandum.  Qui 
operarius  nullam  licentiam  possit  concedere  alicui  de  extrahendo,  vel 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA.  31 1 

consentire  quod  extrahatur  aliquod  lavorium  de  petra  vel  marmore  de 
petraria  dicti  operis  ullo  modo.  Cui  operario  magistri  dicti  operis,  qui 
de  cetero  iverint  unus  vel  plures  pro  aliquo  salario  ad  aliquam  divisio- 
nem  faciendam,  teneantur  dare,  et  dictus  operarius  ab  eis  auferre  tenea- 
tur, dimidiam  partem  pretii  quod  recipient  pro  dicta  divisione  in  utili- 
tatem  operis  convertendam.  Et  teneatur  operarius  antedictus  si  ca- 
pomagister  dicti  operis  inprehenderit  aliquod  opus  alicuius  singularis 
persone,  et  non  steterit  continue  ad  servitium  operis,  retinere  pro  rata  de 
salario  suo  sicut  aliis  magistris,  et  faciat  custodiri  ita  quod  opus  taglie 
non  possit  decipi,  scribendo  quemlibet  diem  et  punctum  in  quo  magis- 
tri aut  manuales,  vel  aliquis  eorum,  stabunt  extra  dictam  operam,  et  ex- 
computet  pro  rata  temporis  sicut  consuetum  est. 

De  oblationibus  faciendis  in  vigilia  et  festo  gloriosissime  beate  Marie  vir- 

ginis  de  mense  aTigusti. 

Exceptis  paupertate,  hodio  vel  infirmitate  detentis,  omnes  habitantes 
in  civitatis  Senarum  burgis  et  subburgis  majores  annis  xviij  et  a  Ixx 
annis  infra,  videlicet  quilibet  cum  hominibus  sue  contrate  in  qua  habi- 
taret,  teneantur  ire  in  vigilia  Sancte  Marie  virginis  de  mense  augusti  ad 
maiorem  ecclesiam  Senensem,  de  die  et  non  de  nocte,  et  cum  ceris  et 
non  doppieris,  pena  centum  solidorum  denariorum  portanti  vel  facienti 
portare  doppierum,  et  offerre  dictos  ceros  operi  dicte  ecclesie,  et  venire 
et  stare  in  dicta  vigilia  in  civitatem.  Item  quelibet  comunitas  comita- 
tus  et  jurisdictions  Senarum  teneatur  offerre,  in  die  festivitatis  beate 
predicte  ad  dictam  ecclesiam,  operi  dicte  ecclesie,  tot  libras  cere  in  ceris 
in  quot  centinariis  librarum  denariorum  comunitas  est  alibrata  Comuni 
Senarum.  Et  de  tribus  partibus  dicte  cere  fiat  unus  cerus  fogliatus 
quam  pulcrior,  et  de  residuo  tot  ceri  quorum  quilibet  sit  unius  libre 
cere  quod  fieri  possunt  deferendi  et  offerendi  per  tot  massarios  illius 
comunitatis  quot  sunt  ceri  supradicti.  Comunitas  vero  alibrata  in  mi- 
nori  quantitate  C.  librarum  teneatur  deferre  et  offerre  tantum  unum 
cerum  unius  libre.  Et  nullus  possit  sotiare  deferentes  dictos  ceros 
comunitatis  in  dicta  vigilia  vel  festo,  pena  C.  soldorum  denariorum,  et 
medietas  pene  predicte  sit  cuiuslibet  accusatoris.  Liceat  tamen  Potes- 
tati  de  Monte  Alcino,  de  Montepulciano,  de  Lucignano  vallis  Clane,  vel 
eius  filio,  cum  xx  sotiis  sotiare  deferentes  ceros  dictarum  comunitatum 
dicto  tempore  in  eundo  et  redeundo  ad  dictam  ecclesiam,  dictis  ceris 
folliatis  ponendis  in  altum  in  dicta  ecclesia,  et  sic  custodiendis  per  an- 
num, et  in  sequent!  festo  novis  ceris  ponendis  et  illis  elevandis. 

Quod  oblata  applicenttir  operis  (sic)  Sancte  Marie. 
Omnesque  ceri  qui  offeruntur  in  dicta  ecclesia  in  festo  beati  Bonifatii 
et  beati  Ansani,  et  pro  censu  Comunis  Senarum  quocumque  tempore, 
ac  etiam  feudum  dandum  Comuni  Senarum  a  comuni  de  Monte  Alcino 


.  !  2  APPENDIX. 

quolibet  anno  xxx  librarum  denariorum,  et  etiam  quicquid  acquiritur 
in  civitate  Senarum  pro  dicto  opere,  excepto  eo  quod  acquiritur  in  ec- 
clesia  majori  diebus  pascalibus,  sint  operis  dicte  ecclesie.  Omnibus  ac- 
quirentibus  pro  dicto  opere  cogendis  jurare  per  dominum  Potestatem 
de  mense  januarii  de  assignando  sine  diminutione  in  manus  dicti  ope- 
rarii  que  ad  eorum  manus  pervenerint. 

Statuti  del  Comune  di  Siena,  tomo  xxv  (num.  ant.),  f.  7- 


See  text,  ante,  p.  1 70. 

IX. 

A.D.    1353. 

In  nomine  Domini  amen.  Anno  sue  salutifere  incarnationis  Mille- 
simo  iiicliij  Indictione  vj  die  veneris  vij  junii.  Congregato  et  convo- 
cato  generali  consilio  campane.  .  .  . 

Item  cum  audiveritis  legi  ad  intelligentiam  in  present!  consilio  quan- 
dam  petitionem  operarii  opere  Sancte  Marie  infrascripte  continentie 
et  tenoris,  videlicet :  Dinanzi  da  voi  Signori  Nove,  governatori  e  di- 
fensori  del  Comune  e  del  Popolo  de  la  Cita  di  Siena,  e  cum  reverenzia, 
si  dimanda  per  parte  del  operaio  del  uopera  Sante  Marie,  cioe  de  la 
chiesa  magiore  de  la  Cita  di  Siena,  che  concio  sia  chosa  che  i  Signori 
quatro  provisori  de  la  bicherna  del  detto  Comune  non  ano  pagato  gia 
sono  cinque  anni  o  piu  al  uopera  Sancte  Maria  la  limosina  ordinaria 
la  qual  dovieno  pagare  per  riformasgione  di  Consiglio  di  Campana  del 
decto  Comune,  e  sichome  elli  e  molto  manifesto  la  gloriosa  Vergine 
Maria  madre  di  Dio  e  suta,  e  e,  e  sara  sempre,  si  a  Dio  piace,  guida, 
guarda,  e  defenditrice  di  questa  Cita  e  del  suo  contado,  e  per  tanto  la 
detta  magiore  ghiesa  del  duomo  Sante  Marie,  la  quale  e  edificata  e  con- 
tinuo  s'edifica  a  honore  e  a  reverenzia  della  decta  Vergine  gloriosa,  el 
Comune  tucto,  e  ciascheuno  singulare  cittadino  e  tenuto  di  mantenere 
e  da  cresciere  quanto  allui  e  possibile ;  e  ancho  concio  sia  chosa  che 
la  decta  ghiesa  non  puo  avere  perfectione  se  non  se  prende  col  muro 
d'essa  ghiesa  parte  del  palazo  del  veschovado,  e  messer  lo  Veschovo  di 
Siena  a  risposto  al  operaio  sopradetto  molto  gratiosamente  di  volere 
in  cio  operare  ogni  chosa  che  sia  honore  e  grandeza  de  la  detta  chiesa 
e  piacere  del  Comune  di  Siena  e  de  ciascheuno  buono  cittadino,  adon- 
qua  acio  che  la  sopradetta  ghiesa  la  detta  perfectione  possa  avere  a 
honore  e  a  reverenzia  de  la  detta  Madre  di  Dio  vergine  gloriosa, — vi 
piaccia  di  fare  reformare  nei  consigli  channo  balia,  che  Signori  quactro 
provisori  de  la  bicherna  del  Comune  di  Siena,  ei  quagli  entraranno  all' 
offitio  in  Kalende  Lulglio  proximo  che  viene,  e  successivamente  cias- 
cheuno offitio  di  quattro  de  la  detta  bicherna,  sia  tenuto  e  debba,  a  la 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA.  313 

pena  di  cento  fiorini  d'oro  per  ciascheuno  di  loro,  datollare  per  Misser 
lo  Capitano  de  la  guerra  del  detto  Comuno,  se  nelle  dette  chose  fossero 
negligenti,  de  la  delta  moneta  e  limosina,  la  quale  dal  detto  Kalende 
luglio  adirietro  si  doveva  pagare  a  la  detta  uopera  Sancte  Marie  e  non 
e  pagato,  paghino  e  pagar  debbano  al  operaio  de  la  detta  uopera  Sancte 
Marie  ;  ricevendo  pella  detta  uopera  oltra  la  limosina  usata  e  douta  a 
la  detta  uopera  pello  tempo  avenire  ijc  florini  d'oro,  infine  a  tanto  che 
la  detta  moneta  e  limosina  chosi  ritenuta  sia  compiuta  di  pagare. 
L'onipotente  Dio  e  la  detta  sua  gloriosa  Madre  vi  conceda  gratia  di 
fare  quello  che  sia  loro  santissima  laude  e  reverentia,  e  sia  honore  e 
buono  stato  pacifico  de  la  vostra  Cita. 

Insuper  cum  audiveritis  legi  in  present!  consilio  deliberationes  habi- 
tas  super  dicta  petitione,  quarum  talis  est  tenor,  videlicet :  Die  vmensis 
junii  lecta  fuit  presens  petitio  in  presentia  dominorum  Novem,  Potesta- 
tis,  et  Capitanei  populi,  et  deliberatum  fuit  per  eos  quod  presens  petitio 
ponatur  ad  consilium  ordinarii  et  executorum  gabelle.  Die  vj  mensis 
junii  lecta  fuit  presens  petitio  in  presentia  dominorum  Novem,  ordi- 
narii et  executorum  gabelle,  et  deliberatum  fuit  per  eos  quod  dicta  pe- 
titio ponatur  ad  generale  Consilium  Campane.  Si  igitur  videtur  et 
placet  dicto  Consilio  et  consiliariis  statuere,  sancire,  ordinare  et  re- 
formare  prout  in  dicta  petitione  continetur,  non  obstantibus  aliquibus 
statutis,  ordinamentis,  provisionibus  et  reformationibus  Comunis  Sena- 
rum,  in  Dei  nomine  consulatur.  .  .  . 

Item  simili  modo  et  forma  facto  et  misso  distincte  partito  ad  lupinos 
albos  et  nigros,  secundum  formam  statuti,  \lacund\  proposita  operarii 
Sancte  Marie  et  consilio  dato  super  ea,  fuit  obtentum,  statutum,  sanci- 
tum  et  reformatum  quod  plene  fiat  prout  in  ipsa  continetur  per  clxxviiij 
consiliarios  eiusdem  consilii  dantes  eorum  lupinos  albos  del  st,  et  se 
cum  dicta  proposita  et  consilio  concordantes,  non  obstantibus  xv  con- 
siliariis dantibus  eorum  lupinos  nigros  del  no,  et  se  discordantibus  a 
predictis. 

Constglio  della  Campana,  tomo  civ.  f.  28. 


The  two  following  documents  relate  to  the  means 
taken  to  secure  the  necessary  supplies  for  the  work 
towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century.  The  first 
is  an  ordinance  directing  notaries  called  on  to  draw 
up  a  will  that  they  should  urge  the  testator  to  leave  a 
legacy  to  the  works.  The  last  is  an  ordinance  regu- 
lating the  contributions  of  wax  to  be  made  annually  by 


APPENDIX. 

the  citizens,  and  it  affords  curious  and  interesting  in- 
formation concerning  the  occupations  of  the  people, 
and  the  trades  carried  on  in  the  city. 

X. 

A.D.  1388,  mar zo  28. 

In  nomine  Domini  amen.  Anno  dominice  incarnationis  mccclxxxviij0 
Indictione  xja  die  xxviij  mensis  martii.  Convocato  et  congregato  gene- 
rali  Consilio  campane  Comunis  et  populi  civitatis  Senensis  in  consueto 
palatio,  et  magna  sala  palatii  inferioris  dicti  Comunis,  ad  sonum  Cam- 
pane  vocemque  preconis  ut  moris  est,  in  sufficenti  numero  secundum 
formam  statutorum  Senensium,  et  cetera :  Dixit  et  proposuit  honora- 
bilis  et  sapiens  vir  Nannes  Petri  Johannini  de  numero  Dominorum,  de 
licentia  et  mandato  Domini  prepositi  Dominorum  prefatorum,  in  hac 
forma,  videlicet ; — 

Laudabile  apud  Deum  et  honorabile  apud  homines  certum  est  eccle- 
sias  honorare,  manutenere,  pariter  et  augere.  Testatur  enim  scriptura : 
honora  Deum  de  substantia  tua,  quod  recte  fit  cum  domus  eius  et  cul- 
tus  divinus  in  illis  honorantur  ab  hominibus,  et  manus  illis  extenditur 
elemosinas  largiendo.  Nulli  quidem  dubium  est  quod  maior  ecclesia 
cathedralis  civitatis  Senensis  inter  cetera  civitatis  prefate  iocale  pul- 
crum  est  et  honorabile,  cuius  opera  temporum  malignitate  in  introiti- 
bus  deficit,  et  sicut  liquet  in  expensis  quasi  indeficientibus  aggravatur. 
Unde  non  deberet  preterire  quin  cives  et  comitatini  Senenses  in  mortis 
articulo  constituti  aliquid  relinquere  deberent  opere  supradicte,  quod 
contingere  creditur  quare  homines  non  recordantur  neque  fiunt  me- 
mores  per  alios  circumstantes.  Ne  igitur  bonum  hoc  per  negligentiam 
hominum  depereat,  ad  laudem  omnipotentis  Dei  et  matris  sue  glorio- 
sissime,  et  in  remedium  animarum  omnium  testatorum  qui  finem  uni- 
verse carnis  absolvunt, — si  videtur  et  placet  dicto  consilio  et  consiliariis 
dicti  consilii  providere,  ordinare  et  reformare,  et  quod  provisum,  ordi- 
natum  et  reformatum  sit  et  esse  intelligatur,  auctoritate  presentis  con- 
silii, validaque  et  perpetua  ac  irrevocabili  lege  firmatum  :  Quod  omnes 
et  singuli  notarii  civitatis,  comitatus  et  districtus  Senarum  vel  aliunde 
rogantes  in  civitate,  comitatu  et  districtu  Senarum  aliqua  testamenta, 
debeant  singulariter  talem  testatorem  memorem  facere  et  persuadere 
eidem  si  aliquid  vult  relinquere  opere  Sancte  Marie  de  Senis  secundum 
ipsius  testatoris  liberam  voluntatem.  Et  ad  hoc  ut  clare  sciri  et  videri 
possit  quod  sic  fecerint,  teneantur  dicti  notarii  in  eorum  scripturis  et 
rogationibus  talium  testamentorum  de  predictis  facere  mentionem  et 
singulare  capitulum,  in  presentia  testium  vocandorum  et  adhibendorum, 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUO  MO  OF  SIENA. 


315 


in  qua  scriptura  distinguatur  utrum  tails  testator  aliquid  reliquerit 
dicte  opere  vel  non  reliquerit,  pena  decem  librarum  denariorum  pro 
quolibet  notario  contrafacente,  et  qualibet  vice ;  applicandarum  pro  di- 
midia  Comuni  Senensi  et  pro  alia  dimidia  dicte  opere.  In  Dei  nomine 
consulatur. 

Super  quibus  omnibus  et  singulis  et  cetera ; — 

Unus  ex  consiliariis  dicti  consilii  in  ipso  consilio  surgens  ad  dicito- 
rium  consuetum  dixit  atque  consuluit  super  dicta  proposita  quod  sit,  fiat 
et  executioni  mandetur  pro  ut  et  sicut  in  ipsa  proposita  continetur. 
In  reformatione  cuius  consilii  dato,  facto  et  misso  partito  ad  lupinos 
albos  et  nigros  secundum  formam  statutorum  Senensium,  victum,  ob- 
tentum  et  reformatum  fuit  quod  sit,  fiat  et  executioni  mandetur  pro  ut 
et  sicut  in  ipsa  proposita  continetur,  per  trecentos  quatordecim  consili- 
arios  dicti  consilii  dantes  ipsorum  lupinos  albos  pro  sic.  Non  obstanti- 
bus  quadraginta  nigris  datis  in  contrarium  predictorum. 

Ego  Andreas,  quondam  Justi  Cenni  de  Vulterris,  publica,  apostolica 
et  imperiali  auctoritatibus  notarius,  Cesareaque  autoritate  iudex  ordi- 
narius,  et  nunc  notarius  Reformationum  Comunis  Senensis,  predictis 
dum  agerentur  interfui,  et  ea  rogatus  scripsi  et  publicavi. 

Opera  Metropolitana  di  Siena. 


XI. 

A.D.  1389. 

In  nomine  Domini  amen.  Anno  dominice  incarnationis  mccclxxxviiij 
Ind.  xij  die  tertiadecima  mensis  aprilis.  Convocato  et  congregate 
general!  consilio  campane  Comunis  et  populi  civitatis  Senarum  .  .  . 
dixit  et  proposuit  honorabilis  et  sapiens  vir  Nannes  Mini  Neri  de 
numero  dominorum  Priorum.  .  .  . 

Cum  in  honorem  et  augumentum  maioris  ecclesie  Senarum  per  non- 
nullos  prudentes  cives  Senarum  data  fuerit  quedam  petitio  in  hac  for- 
ma, videlicet :  Dinanzi  a  voi,  magnifici  signori,  signori  Priori,  Governa- 
tori  del  Comune  e  Popolo  de  la  citta  di  Siena,  et  a  voi  venerabili  e  cari 
cittadini  del  consiglo  :  con  ogni  reverentia  debita  si  spone  per  alcuno 
vostro  cittadino,  quello  che  sia  honore  de  1'onipotente  Idio  e  della  sua 
madre  santissima,  et  accrescimento  de  la  vostra  chiesa  maggiore,  e  sia 
honore  de  la  vostra  magnifica  Signoria  e  di  tutta  la  citta  di  Siena. 

Considerando  che  da  uno  tempo  in  qua  1'entrata  del  huopara  de  la 
vostra  chiesa  maggiore  e  molto  diminuita,  e  mancata,  e  ridocta  a  meno 
che  per  meta,  e  per  questa  cagione  et  inpotenza  de  la  decta  huopara, 
la  sopradetta  vostra  chiesa  maggiore  non  puo  accrescere  ne  bonificare, 
ad  honore  de  la  gloriosa  vergine  Maria  e  come  si  richiederebbe  a  una 
si  facta  chiesa,  e  per  questa  impotentia  non  si  puo  riparare  al  campa- 


2  j  6  APPENDIX. 

nile,  che  senza  niuno  rimedio  e  per  cadere,  e  se  non  si  guasta  e  per  pe- 
ricolare  tutta  la  sopradetta  chiesa  ;  et  accio  che  la  delta  chiesa  vengha 
in  quello  bonificamento  che  voi  desiderate  senza  danno  dei  cittadini,  e 
proveduto  in  questa  forma  che  disocto  e  scripto. 

Che  tutti  e  cittadini  di  Siena  et  habitanti  in  essa  citta  e  tutti  quelli 
de  le  masse  sieno  tenuti  e  debbano  ogn'anno  fare  o  mandare  una  volta 
offerta  a  la  sopradetta  chiesa  maggiore  di  quella  quantita  di  cera  et  in 
quelli  tempi  et  in  quelli  modi  che  qui  di  sotto  sono  scritti,  non  lassando 
pero  ne  diminuendo  1'offerta  di  madonna  santa  Maria  del  mese  d'agosto. 

Et  intendasi  che  la  detta  offerta,  avendo  prima  riparato  overo  rifacto 
el  sopradetto  campanile,  sia  deputata  solo  in  accrescere  la  sopradetta 
chiesa  maggiore,  et  maximamente  in  fare  uno  campo  santo,  cioe  luogo 
di  sipolture,  in  quella  forma  e  modo  che  e  quello  di  Pisa,  el  quale  e 
delle  nobili  cose  di  cristenita  che  a  chiesa  s'apartenghano.  El  quale 
campo  santo  si  faccia  nel  duomo  nuovo,  overo  la  dove  para  a  1'operaio 
et  a  maestri  che  meglio  stia.  E  questo  facendo  la  vostra  chiesa  ne 
verra  in  grandissima  magnificenza  e  buono  stato  et  honore  grandissimo 
di  tutta  la  citta. 

In  prima  che  tutti  e  gentigliomini  e  piaczesi  da  xiiij  anni  in  su  deb- 
bano portare  et  offerire  a  la  sopradetta  chiesa  maggiore  ciaschuno  uno 
cero  d'una  libbra  o  piii,  e  la  detta  offerta  debano  fare  la  mattina  de  la 
pasqua  de  la  Resurressione  del  nostro  Signore  Geso  Cristo  proxima  che 
verra  anni  domini  mccclxxxviiij,  e  cosi  debbano  poi  ogn'anno  fare.  Et 
che  essi  debbano  andare  a  offerire  in  questo  modo  cioe :  che  ciascuno 
terzo  vadano  di  per  se  raunandosi  prima  a  una  chiesa  del  decto  terzo 
la  quale  alloro  piaciera. 

Ancho  che  tutti  e  mercatanti  et  artefici  di  tutta  la  citta  sieno  tenuti 
e  debbano,  e  i  capomaestri  e  compagni,  offerire  ogn'anno  uno  cero  d'una 
libbra  o  di  piii  per  ciaschuno ;  e  tutti  e  factori  o  garzoni  loro  da  xiiij  anni 
in  su  debbano  offerire  ciaschuno  uno  cero  di  meza  libbra  o  di  piu,  la 
quale  offerta  facciano  ogn'anno  a  la  sopradetta  chiesa  maggiore  in 
quelli  di  e  per  quelle  feste  che  qui  di  sotto  sono  dichiarate. 

Banchieri,  orafi,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  offerire  el  di  [lacuna]. 

Lanaiuoli,  tiratori,  tappetari,  cardaiuoli,  tintori,  e  tutti  e  loro  sottoposti 
debbano  offerire  el  di  di  Santo  Jacomo  e  San  Filippo,  di  primo  di  mag- 
gio. 

Ritaglieri,  calzettai,  e  cimatori,  e  tutti  loro  sottoposti  debbano  offerire 
el  di  di  San  Barnabe  apostolo,  di  xj  di  giugno. 

Mercatanti  grossi,  ferraiuoli,  pizzicaiuoli,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  of- 
ferire el  di  di  San  Giovanni  Battista,  di  xxiiij  di  giugno. 

Setaiuoli,  zendadai,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  offerire  el  di  di  San 
Piero  et  San  Pavolo  apostoli,  di  xxviij  di  giugno. 

Dipentori  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  offerire  el  di  di  Santo  Jacomo  e 
San  Cristofano,  a  di  xxv  di  luglo. 


DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  DUOMO  OF  SIENA, 

Maestri  di  legname  e  di  pietra,  e  cavatori  e  manovali,  e  tutti  e  loro 
sottoposti  debbano  offerire  el  di  di  San  Lorenzo,  di  x  d'agosto. 

Calzolari,  scarsellari,  correggiari  e  borsari,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano 
offerire  el  di  di  San  Bartolomeo,  di  xxiiij  d'agosto. 

Coiari,  cerbolattari,  cartari,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  offerire  el  di  di 
S.  Giovanni  Battista  Dicollato,  di  xxviiij  d'agosto. 

Fabbri  grossi,  chiavari,  spadari,  agutari,  padellari,  armaiuoli  e  sbraghi- 
eri,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  offerire  el  di  de  la  nativita  di  nostra  Don- 
na, di  viij  di  settembre 

Pannilini,  ligrettieri,  linaiuoli,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  offerire  el  di 
[lacuna], 

Medici  di  fisica  e  cirusici,  spetiali,  barbieri,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano 
offerire  el  di  di  Santo  Luca,  di  xviij  d'octobre. 

Giudici,  avocati  e  notari  e  procuratori,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  of- 
ferire el  di  di  San  Simone  e  Giuda,  di  xxviij  d'octobre. 

Pellicciari,  sartori,  farsettari,  bambagari,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  of- 
ferire el  di  d'ogni  santi,  di  primo  di  novembre. 

Mercatanti  di  bestie,  carnaiuoli,  e  pesciaiuoli,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano 
offerire  el  di  di  Santa  Caterina,  di  xxv  di  novembre. 

Fornieri,  e  panicuocoli,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  offerire  el  di  di 
Santo  Andrea  apostolo,  di  xxx  di  novembre. 

Barlectari,  balestrieri,  tornatori,  fusari,  e  loro  sottoposti  debbano  of- 
ferire el  di  di  Santa  Lucia,  di  xiij  di  decembre. 

Bastieri,  sellari  e  tavolacciari,  e  tutti  loro  sottoposti  debbano  offrire 
el  di  di  San  Thome  apostolo,  di  xxj  di  dicembre. 

Orciolari,  pignattari,  coppari,  fornaciari  di  mattoni,  e  bichierai,  e  tutti 
loro  sottoposti  debbano  offerire  el  di  de  la  nativita  di  Cristo,  di  xxx  di 
dicembre. 

Biadaiuoli,  farinaiuoli,  portatori,  tractori,  crivellari,  e  loro  sottoposti 
debbano  offerire  el  di  de  la  circumcisione  de  nostro  Signore  Geso  Cristo, 
di  primo  di  gennaio. 

Maliscalchi,  cozoni,  e  chi  presta  ronzini  debbano  offerire  el  di  della 
pasqua  di  Befania,  di  vj  di  gennaio. 

Albergatori,  tavernieri,  pollaiuoli,  soffrittai  debbano  offerire  el  di  di 
sancto  Anthonio,  a  di  xvij  di  gennaio. 

Ancho  che  quelli  de  la  compagna  di  Munistero  perche  non  sono  arte- 
fici  debbano  offerire  ogni  capo  fameglia  de  la  detta  compagna  uno  cero 
d'una  lira  o  di  piu  ogn'anno  el  di  de  la  festa  di  Santa  Maria  candelora, 
di  ij  di  ferraio,  e  vadano  tutti  in  sieme. 

Ancho  che  tutte  e  tre  le  masse  de  la  citta  debbano  offerire  per  ciascu- 
no  terzo  cento  ceri  di  lira  1'uno  o  piu  a  la  detta  chiesa  el  di  di  santo 
Mathia  apostolo,  a  di  xxiiij  di  ferraio. 

Ancho  perche  1'arte  de  pizicaiuoli  bonifichara  che  la  detta  arte  deb- 
bano agiognare  a  la  loro  offerta  uno  cero  grosso  fiorito  di  peso  di  xxv 


APPENDIX. 

lire  con  sei  lire  di  fiori,  e  quattro  doppieri  con  istaggiuoli  di  peso  di  xx 
lire  o  di  piu  in  tutto. 

E  sia  tenuto  ciascuno  cittadino  di  Siena  e  de  le  masse  e  habitante  in 
essa  citta  la  sopra  detta  offerta  ogn'anno  fare  o  facci  fare  ne  detti  di 
diputati  a  la  pena  di  x  lib.  per  ciascuno  e  per  ciascuna  volta,  a  pagare 
in  biccherna  chi  contrafacesse. 

E  tutti  e  Rectori  e  Camarlenghi  de  le  dette  arti  sieno  tenuti  le  sopra- 
dette offerte  ne  sopradetti  di  fare  e  facciano  fare  ogn'anno  a  la  pena 
di  xxv  lire  per  ciaschuno  e  per  ciaschuna  volta  che  contrafacesse,  a 
pagare  in  biccherna.  E  ch'el  Podesta  sia  tenuto  le  sopradette  pene 
fare  pagare  a  la  pena  di  cento  fiorini.  E  ch'el  Camarlingho  sia  tenuto 
ritenere  del  suo  salario.  E  ch'el  detto  misser  Podesta  abbi  la  quarta 
parte  de  le  sopradette  pene  le  quali  facesse  pagare  a  chi  contrafacesse. 

Si  igitur  dicto  consilio  et  consiliariis  dicti  consilii  videtur  et  placet 
providere,  ordinare  et  reformare,  et  quod  provisum,  ordinatum  et  refor- 
matum  sitet  esse  intelligatur,  auctoritate  presentis  consilii,  prout  et  si- 
cut  in  dicta  proposita  continetur,  non  obstantibus  in  predictis  vel  ali- 
quo  predictorum  aliquibus  statutis,  reformationibus,  provisionibus  et 
ordinamentis  Comunis  Senarum  in  contrarium  disponentibus,  in  Dei 
nomine  consulatur. 

In  reformatione  quorum  consiliorum,  dato,  facto,  et  misso  partito  ad 
lupinos  albos  et  nigros  secundum  formam  statutorum  .  .  .  proposita 
offerte  obtenta  fuit  per  cccj  lupinos  albos,  non  obstantibus  Ixxxviij 
nigris. 

Consiglio  della  Campana,  tomo  cci.  f.  106. 


APPENDIX  II. 


IRREGULARITIES  OF   CONSTRUCTION  IN  ITALIAN 
BUILDINGS  OF   THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

IN  his  Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture,  published  in 
1849,  Mr.  Ruskin,  speaking  of  the  Romanesque  and 
early  Gothic,  says  that  in  buildings  of  these  styles  "  ac- 
cidental carelessnesses  of  measurement  or  of  execution 
are  mingled  undistinguishably  with  the  purposed  de- 
partures from  symmetrical  regularity,  and  the  luxuri- 
ousness  of  perpetually  variable  fancy,  which  are  emi- 
nently characteristic  of  both  styles.  How  great,  how 
frequent  they  are,  and  how  brightly  the  severity  of  ar- 
chitectural law  is  relieved  by  their  grace  and  sudden- 
ness, has  not,  I  think,  been  enough  observed ;  still  less 
the  unequal  measurements  of  even  important  features 
professing  to  be  absolutely  symmetrical."  He  proceeds 
to  illustrate  the  fact  of  purposed  departures  from  sym- 
metrical regularity  by  the  subtle  arrangement  of  the 
seven  arched  compartments  of  the  base  of  the  western 
front  of  the  Cathedral  of  Pisa,  and  by  the  exquisite  del- 
icacies of  change  in  the  proportions  and  dimensions  of 
the  apparently  symmetrical  superimposed  arcades  of 
the  same  front,  and  also  by  the  "  determined  variation 
in  arrangement  which  is  exactly  like  the  related  pro- 


-520  APPENDIX. 

portions  and  provisions  in  the  structure  of  organic 
form"  in  the  Romanesque  Church  of  San  Giovanni 
Evangelista  at  Pistoia,  and  in  the  west  front  of  St. 
Mark's  at  Venice.  "  I  imagine,"  he  concludes,  "  I  have 
given  instances  enough,  though  I  could  multiply  them 
indefinitely,  to  prove  that  these  variations  are  not  mere 
blunders,  nor  carelessnesses,  but  the  result  of  a  fixed 
scorn,  if  not  dislike,  of  accuracy  in  measurements,  and, 
in  most  cases,  I  believe,  of  a  determined  resolution  to 
work  out  an  effective  symmetry  by  variations  as  subtle 
as  those  of  Nature." ' 

In  the  second  volume  of  his  Stones  of  Venice,  pub- 
lished in  1853,  he  illustrates  the  subject  still  further  by 
instances  of  "  the  peculiar  subtlety  of  the  early  Vene- 
tian perception  for  ratios  of  magnitude,"  and  of  "  an  in- 
tense perception  of  harmony  in  the  relation  of  quan- 
tities on  the  part  of  the  Byzantine  architects,"  drawn 
from  the  church  at  Murano,  from  some  of  the  Byzan- 
tine palaces  in  Venice,  and  again  from  the  Church  of 
St.  Mark.t 

The  subject,  although  of  especial  interest  as  illus- 
trating the  methods  of  building  of  the  mediaeval  archi- 
tects, and  as  exhibiting  the  refined  artistic  feeling  and 
delicate  perception  which  were  the  source  of  the  finest 
effects  of  beauty  in  their  work,  has  not  received  the  at- 
tention which  it  deserves.  Few  of  the  writers  on  the 
architecture  of  the  Middle  Ages  refer  to  it.  Burck- 
hardt,  in  his  Cicerone,  attributes  the  irregularities  in 
symmetry  to  "  an  indifference  to  mathematical  exact- 
ness peculiar  to  the  early  Middle  Ages,"  \  which  seems 

*  The  Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture  (London,  1849),  pp.  144-153. 

t  The  Stones  of  Venice  (London,  1851-53),  vol.  ii.pp.  37-43,  and  121-128. 

I  Der  Cicerone  (2d  edition,  Leipzig,  1869),  p.  102. 


ITALIAN  BUILDINGS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


321 


to  exclude  the  idea  of  a  guiding  aesthetic  sentiment 
and  an  exquisite  aesthetic  result. 

In  an  interesting  paper  that  appeared  in  Scribners 
Monthly,  New  York,  August,  1874,  entitled  A  Lost  Art, 
Mr.  W.  H.  Goodyear  has  made  the  most  important  con- 
tribution to  the  topic  since  Mr.  Ruskin  wrote.  From 
an  ingenious  examination  of  the  group  of  cathedral 
buildings  at  Pisa,  the  Duomo  itself,  the  Baptistery,  and 
the  Leaning  Tower — those  buildings  which  Forsyth 
well  calls  "  fortunate  both  in  their  society  and  their  soli- 
tude " — he  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  various 

* 

curves  and  inclinations  visible  in  them,  the  noticeable 
deviations  from  exact  symmetry  in  generally  corre- 
spondent parts,  and  the  many  irregularities  of  construc- 
tion which  they  present  were  "  intended  to  produce  op- 
tical effects,  perspective  illusions,"  for  the  purpose,  in 
part,  at  least,  of  the  apparent  increase  of  dimensions ; 
and  he  advances  the  theory  that  the  science  upon  which 
the  builders  proceeded  was  a  tradition  handed  down 
from  the  ancient  Greeks  through  the  Byzantines  to  the 
Byzantine  architects  of  Italy.  The  evidence  of  inten- 
tion in  many  of  the  irregularities  is  ample ;  the  motive 
suggested  for  them  by  Mr.  Goodyear,  and  his  theory 
of  derivation,  seem  to  me  questionable.  There  are 
similar  divergences  from  symmetry,  and  similar  de- 
signed irregularities,  in  buildings  in  regions  where  the 
influence  of  Byzantine  modes  of  construction  was  never 
strongly  felt. 

The  whole  matter  demands  thorough  investigation, 
based  upon  numerous  and  careful  measurements  of 
buildings  in  all  parts  of  Italy.  It  presents  curious 
problems,  the  solution  of  which  deserves  the  labor  and 
time  it  may  require. 

21 


,22  APPENDIX. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  while  many  of  the  ir- 
regularities which  give  so  peculiar  an  aspect  and  often 
so  great  a  charm  of  life  and  variety  to  the  architecture 
of  Italy  in  the  early  Middle  Ages  are  due  to  the  artistic 
sense  of  the  builders  (as,  indeed,  it  seems  to  me,  Mr.  Rus- 
kin  has  proved),  others  are  due  to  the  sinking  of  foun- 
dations and  to  carelessness  in  construction,  such  as  we 
have  evidence  of  in  the  erection  of  the  cathedral  at 
Siena ;  still  others  to  the  irregular  supply  of  material,  as 
well  as  to  the  variety  of  material  brought  from  ancient 
buildings  and  worked  into  the  new,  as  was  frequently 
the  case,  for  instance,  in  St.  Mark's  (see  ante,  p.  56); 
and  others  still  to  a  change  of  design  on  the  part  of 
successive  builders  in  works  which,  like  the  cathedrals 
of  Siena  and  Florence,  were  labors  continued  through 
many  generations. 

We  should  have,  then,  to  make  two  great  distinc- 
tions— first,  of  the  originally  designed  artistic  irregu- 
larities, productive  often  of  effects  of  great  beauty  and 
baffling  intricacy,  the  result  of  fine  architectural  skill 
and  feeling ;  and,  second,  of  originally  undesigned  ir- 
regularities, often  injurious  to  the  character  of  the  edi- 
fice, and  displeasing  to  the  eye,  the  result  of  accident, 
wilfulness,  incompetence,  or  change  of  plan.  The  his- 
tory of  the  building  of  the  Duomo  of  Siena  affords,  as 
the  preceding  pages  show,  many  illustrations  of  the 
operation  of  the  latter  set  of  causes  of  irregularity. 


INDEX 


INDEX. 


A. 

AACHEN,  church  at,  5. 

Abati,  Neri,  sets  fire  to  Florence,  202. 

Agnolo  di  Tura,  extract  from  his  chron- 
icle concerning  plague  at  Siena,  166. 

Alberti,  Leon  Battista,  returns  to  Flor- 
ence from  banishment,  279  ;  dedica- 
tion of  his  treatise  on  Painting  to 
Brunelleschi,  ib, 

Alexander  III.,  Pope,  strife  with  Fred- 
eric Barbarossa,  66  ;  legend  concern- 
ing, 67. 

Architects,  Italian,  their  sense  of  value 
of  proportion,  162. 

Architectural  design  in  Italy  during  the 
eleventh  century,  25. 

Architecture,  from  the  eleventh  to  thir- 
teenth century,  the  clearest  expression 
of  the  distinction  between  modern  and 
ancient  civilization,  10. 

history  of,  during  the  Dark  Ages 

analogous  to  that  of  language,  12. 

the  year  1000  marks  the  revival 


of,  13- 


influence  of  the  Church  upon,  13. 

Romanesque  style  of,  22. 

methods  of  construction  in  me- 
diaeval, 24. 

evolution  of  Gothic,  from  the 


Romanesque,  27. 

color  in,  a  special  gift  of  the  Ve- 


netians, 56. 
character  of  Gothic,  in  Tuscany, 


dome  of  Brunelleschi  marks  an 

epoch  in,  250. 

the  dome  the  most  appropriate 


form  in,  for  a  political  symbol,  250. 

Arnolfo  di  Cambio  intrusted  with  the 
work  upon  the  Duomo  of  Florence, 
192;  his  recompense,  194;  death  of 
(1310),  199;  his  works  in  Florence, 
ib. 

Art,  loss  of  the  sense  of  the  worth  of  an- 
cient, 4. 

classic,  influence  of,  upon  artists 


of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies, 241. 

Arts,  efforts  of  Charlemagne  to  restore 
life  and  order  to  the,  5. 

date  of  the  reawakening  of  the,  1 1. 

practice  of  the,  during  the  Mid- 


dle Ages  by  laymen,  26. 

field  of  the,  not  limited  to  the 


Church  during  the  Middle  Ages,  30. 

united  in  the  church  edifice,  31. 

change  in  character  of  the,  156. 


B. 

Battista  d'  Antonio,  chosen  to  oversee 
construction  of  dome  in  Florence,  251. 

Beauty,  mediaeval  ideal  of,  28. 

Beccafumi,  Uomenico,  his  pavement  of 
Duomo  at  Siena,  176. 

Bocca  degli  Abati,  his  treachery,  119. 
See  Dante. 

Boniface  VIII.,  Pope,  commissions 
Charles  of  Valois  to  restore  peace  in 
Florence,  196. 

Brigata  spendereccia,  157.     See  Dante. 

Brunelleschi,  Filippo,  competes  for  the 
making  of  the  bronze  door  of  the  Bap- 
tistery of  Florence,  237  ;  fails,  238 ; 
his  biographers,  ib.,  note  ;  leaves  Flor- 
ence for  Rome,  239 ;  gains  a  living  as 
goldsmith,  242 ;  studies  in  Rome, 
243  ;  his  repute  increases,  ib.  ;  com- 
petitor for  the  dome  of  the  Duomo, 
246 ;  asks  aid  from  Donatello,  ib. ; 
assisted  by  Nanni  d'  Antonio  di  Bi- 
anchi,  247 ;  his  model  for  the  dome, 
ib. ;  a  committee  appointed  by  the 
Art  of  Wool  to  judge  the  model,  248  ; 
description  of  model  by,  ib. ;  chosen 
to  oversee  construction  of  dome,  251 ; 
advice  to  the  Board  of  Works,  255  ; 
difficulties,  257  ;  story  of  the  egg,  258 ; 
building  of  the  dome  assigned  to,  259  ;  . 
opposition  to,  ib. ;  Ghiberti  and  Bat- 
tista d'  Antonio  appointed  assistants, 
260  ;'  grief  and  anger  of,  ib. ;  rivalry 
with  Ghiberti,  261  ;  preparations  for 
building  the  dome,  262  ;  determination 


326 


INDEX. 


to  rid  himself  of  Ghiberti,  264 ;  salary 
increased,  266 ;  his  report  to  Board 
of  Works,  267  ;  his  failure  before 
Lucca,  270 ;  his  model  of  lantern, 
282 ;  his  design  adopted,  284 ;  ap- 
pointed overseer  for  life,  290;  his 
death,  ib. 

C. 

Cacciaguida,  his  picture  of  the  condition 
of  Florence,  156.  See  Dante. 

Campanile  of  Florence,  222.  See  Flor- 
ence. 

Capelletto,  Company  del,  ravages  of, 
174;  defeat  of,  175. 

Carroccio,  description  ofc  no,  note; 
masts  of,  in  Duomo  of  Siena,  123  ;  at 
Florence  under  charge  of  the  Art  of 
Calimala,  217. 

Castracani,  Castruccio,  his  character  and 
career,  205  ;  his  war  with  Florence, 
205-208 ;  death  of,  207. 

Cathedrals  of  Mainz,  Speier,  and  Worms, 
monuments  of  the  eleventh  century, 
20. 

Cecco  d'  Ascoli,  burning  of,  206. 

Charlemagne,  his  influence,  and  services 
to  civilization,  5. 

Charles  of  Valois  enters  Florence,  196. 

Christianity,  influence  of,  in  uniting  dif- 
ferent nationalities,  6. 

Church,  universal  obedience  claimed  by 
the,  7  ;  her  discipline  and  observances 
as  elements  of  unity,  ib. 

ideal  of  the,  in  the  Middle  Ages, 

14  ;  her  doctrines,  ib.  ;  the  popular  in- 
stitution of  the  Middle  Ages,  15. 

position  of  the,  in  Italy  during 


the  eleventh  century,  20. 

condition  of  the,  in  the  fifteenth 


century,  236. 
Church-building,  general  zeal  for,  at  the 

close  of  the  tenth  century,  16. 
testimony  of  Rudolphus  Glaber 

concerning,  19. 

interest  of  the  secular  clergy  in, 


during  the  eleventh  century,  19. 

•  zeal  for,  in  Germany  during  first 


half  of  the  eleventh  century,  19 ;  in 
Italy  during  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries,  21. 

civic  records  afford  material  for 


history  of,  30. 
comparatively  little  information 

concerning,  of  the  Middle  Ages,  32. 
want  of  sympathy  in,  of  the  poets 

of  the  Middle  Ages,  32. 

notable  exceptions  to  the  gen- 


eral lack  of  information  concerning, 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  34. 


Churches,  great   number   of  monastic, 
built  in  the  eleventh  century,  17. 
-  essential  likeness  in  the  style  of, 


throughout  Europe  during  the  elev- 
enth and  twelfth  centuries,  22. 
Civilization  in  Western  Europe,  wreck 
of  ancient,  after  fall  of  Roman  Em- 
pire, 3. 

traditions  of  old,  preserved  in 


Italy  after  fall  of  Roman  Empire,  4. 

Clement  VII.,  Pope,  towers  of  Florence 
thrown  down  by  order  of,  202. 

Cologne,  Cathedral  of,  reference  to,  in 
romance  of  Renaut  de  Montauban,  33. 

Commerce  a  source  of  unity,  9. 

Compagni,  Dino,  chronicle  of,  195 ;  its 
authenticity  doubted,  ib.,  note. 

Constantinople,  Villehardouin's  Chron- 
icle of  the  conquest  of,  73. 
pillage  of,  82. 


Construction,  irregularities  in,  125,  319. 
Corruption  of  Italy  in  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, 164-5. 
Crusade,  urged  by  Innocent  III.,  71. 

envoys  sent  from  France  to  Italy 


to  make  arrangements  for  the,  72. 

reception  of  envoys  by  the  Doge 


of  Venice,  73. 

answer  of  the  Doge  to  the  en- 


voys, 74. 

acceptance  by  the  envoys  of  the 


conditions  made  by  the  Doge,  75. 

assembly  in  St.  Mark's  with  re- 


gard to,  76. 

consent  of  the  people  to  join  the, 


77- 


departure    of  crusaders    from 
France,  May  and  June,  1202,  78. 

•  fleet  prepared  by  Venice  for  the, 


79- 


discord  among  those  who  had 
joined  the,  79. 

failure  on  the  part  of  the  crusad- 


ers to  make  the  promised  payments 
to  Venice,  79. 

resolution  of  the  Doge  of  Venice 


not  to  abandon  the,  80. 

•  want  of  success  of  the,  8l. 


Culture,  Italian,  desire  of  communities 
and  individuals  for  monumental  build- 
ings, a  marked  feature  of,  188,  note. 

D. 

Dandolo,  Andrea,  chronicle  of,  46. 
Dandolo,  Enrico,  elected  Doge  1192,71  ; 

reception  of  French  envoys  by,  73  ; 

part  taken  by,  in  crusade,  74 ;  council 

of,  75  ;  speech  of,  in  St.  Mark's,  77  ; 

takes  the  cross,  80 ;  blindness  of,  81. 
Dante,  prior  of  Florence,  194;  sent  as 


INDEX. 


327 


envoy  to   Boniface  VIII.,  197 ;  con- 
demned to  death,  198;  answer  to  his 
sentence,  ib. ;  conditions  attached  to 
pardon  offered  to,  215,  note. 
Dante's  Divine  Comedy,  passages  illus- 
trated of: 
Inferno,  x.  36,  Farinata  degli  Uberti, 

1 06. 

"      x.  86,  the  Arbia,  ill. 
"      xxix.  i22,gente  vana  of  Siena, 

88. 
"      xxix.  130,  la  brigata  spenderec- 

cia,  157. 

xxx.  78,  Fonte  Branda,  89. 
"  xxxii.  81,  Montaperti,  121. 
"  xxxii.  106,  Bocca  degli  Abati, 

119. 

Purgatorio,  vi.  14,  Ghin  di  Tacco,  306. 
"          vi.  139-47,  Florentine  fic- 
kleness, 208. 
"          xi.  121,  Provenzan  Salvani, 

112. 

"          xi.  134,  Campodi  Siena,  89. 

"          xiii.  153,  la  Diana,  88. 

"          xx.  71,  Charles  of  Valois, 

196. 
Paradiso,  xv.  99,  Florence  in  the  time 

of  Cacciaguida,  156. 
"       xv.  134,  xvi.  25,  Church  of 
St.  John  Baptist  at  Flor- 
ence, 212. 

"       xxv.  1-9,  Dante's  answer  to 
the  sentence   condemn- 
ing him  to  death,  198. 
Diocletian,  palace  of,  at  Spalato,  21, 23. 
Documents  relating  to  Duomo  of  Siena, 

App.  I.  295-318. 
Doge,  the  election  of  a,  63. 

admonition  of  Venice  to  the,  on 

his  election,  59,  64. 
Donatello,  genius  and  works  of,  246. 

St.  George  by,  249,  note. 

employed  on  palace  of  Cosimo 

de'  Medici,  278. 

Duccio  di  Boninsegna,  his  character  as 
a  painter,  140 ;  his  altar-piece  in  Duo- 
mo  of  Siena,  142-6. 

E. 

Eugenius  IV.,  Pope,  flies  to  Florence, 
272;  consecrates  the  Duomo/273 ; 
knights  Giuliano  Davanzati,  275 ; 
at  the  Council  of  Florence,  287. 

F. 

Faliero,  Vitale,  Doge,  inscription  on  the 

tomb  of,  65. 
Farinata  degli  Uberti  at  Siena,  106.    See 

Dante. 
Festival  of  the  espousals  of  the  sea  by 


Venice,  date  of  origin  of,  70 ;  legend 
concerning  the,  ib. 

Florence  at  the  close  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  181. 

arts  of,  183 ;  statute  of  the  Art 


of  Calimala,  184,  213,  219;  influence 
of,  in  public  affairs,  186 ;  activity  of 
the,  187  ;  various  trusts  committed  to 
the,  2ii;  officers  appointed  by  the 
Art  of  Calimala  to  oversee  the  work 
on  Duomo,  216;  their  duties,  217; 
measures  taken  to  prevent  interference 
by  the  clergy,  217. 

aspect  of,  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 


tury, 200. 

Baptistery  of,  gilded  bronze  doors 


of  the,  236  ;  competition  for  the  doors 
of,  237  ;  the  door  awarded  to  Ghiber- 
ti,  238. 

Boniface  VIII.,  Pope,  commis- 


sions Charles   of  Valois   to  restore 

peace  to,  196. 

Campanile  of,  222. 

carroccio  of,  217. 

Charles  of  Valois  enters  (1301), 


196. 


civil  discord  in,  194. 

commercial  morality  of,  185. 

Council  of,  287  ;  failure  of,  288. 

Dante,  prior  of,  194. 

decline  in  character  of  the  peo- 
ple of,  285. 

Duomo  of  (Sta.  Maria  del  Fio- 


re),  appropriations  made  for  repair- 
ing, and  the  renewal  of  Sta.  Reparata, 
1 88 ;  decree  for  rebuilding  Sta.  Repa- 
rata, 189 ;  new  structure  determined 
upon,  ib. ;  foundation  of  St.  Mary  of 
the  Flower,  190 ;  measures  for  pro- 
curing means  to  build  the,  191 ;  Ar- 
nolfo  di  Cambio  intrusted  with  the 
work  upon  the,  192 ;  Gothic  forms 
employed,  193  ;  work  upon,  continued 
in  spite  of  civic  disturbances,  197 ; 
work  upon,  brought  almost  to  an  end 
by  troubles  in  Florence,  203  ;  super- 
intendents of  the  work  petition  for 
funds,  204 ;  the  Art  of  Wool  intrusted 
with  the  renewed  work  upon,  21 1 ;  of- 
ferings made  on  the  Feast  of  St.  John, 
214;  various  sources  of  income  for 
building,  215;  release  of  prisoners 
upon  St.  John's  Day,  ib. ;  Giotto  ap- 
pointed master  of  the  works  of,  230  ; 
new  design  for,  225 ;  Francesco  Ta: 
lenti  master  of  the  works  of  the,  226  ; 
new  design  begun,  ib. ;  character  ef 
new  design,  227-30;  progress  of  work 
upon,  23 1  ;  tribune  of,  completed,  »33 ; 
picture  of,  in  Spanish  chapel  of  Sta. 


328 


INDEX. 


Maria  Novella,  234 ;  project  for  a 
dome,  235  ;  difficulties  in  constructing 
a  dome,  244 ;  proclamation  ordering 
designs  for  a  dome,  245  ;  meeting  of 
foreign  artists  to  give  their  opinion, 
256 ;  progress  of  dome,  267  ;  incidents 
during  the  building,  268  ;  strike  among 
the  workmen,  271  ;, closing  of  dome, 
271  ;  consecration  of  the,  273  ;  bene- 
diction of  the  dome,  279  ;  competition 
for  lantern  of  dome,  281 ;  report  on 
models  for  lantern,  282  ;  lantern  of 
Brunelleschi  accepted,  ib. ;  delay  in 
completion  of  dome,  289 ;  lantern  com- 
pleted, 291. 

Florence,  famine  in,  209  ;  efforts  to  re- 
lieve suffering  caused  by,  ib. 

feuds  of,  picture  of,  by  Cacciagui- 

da,  195. 

conflagration  in,  202. 

Greek  studies  in,  289. 

luxury  in,  210. 

men  of  eminence  in,  at  the  be- 


ginning of  the  fifteenth  century,  252. 

Ordinances  of  Justice,  182. 

Plague  of  1348,  223 ;   recovery 


from,  224 ;  loss  of  records  and  docu- 
ments due  to,  224,  note. 

Podesta  and  magistrates  of,  184. 

•  reforms  frequent  in  the  govern- 


ment of,  208. 

St.  John  the  Baptist,  patron  of, 


212;  Feast  of,  214. 

Santa  Reparata,  appropriations 


made  for,  188 ;  decree  for  rebuilding, 
189. 

towers  of,  thrown  down  by  order 


of  Clement  VII.,  202. 

walls  and  towers  of,  20 1. 

•  war  with  Castruccio  Castracani 


(1320),  205  ;  disastrous  effect  of,  205. 
war  with  Filippo  Maria  Visconti 


of  Milan  (1423),  269. 

Florentines,  high  qualities  of  the,  251 ; 
their  critical  spirit,  253. 

Foulques  of  Neuilly  preaches  the  crusade 
of  Innocent  III.,  72. 

Fra  Angelico,  frescos  in  Convent  of  St. 
Mark  by,  277. 

Fra  Melano,  operaio  of  Duomo  at  Siena, 
102  ;  his  contract  for  pulpit  with  Nic- 
cola  Pisano,  128. 

Frederic  II.,  effect  of  his  death  on  Ital- 
ian parties,  105. 

Frederic  Barbarossa,  reconciliation  of, 
with  Pope  Alexander  III.,  66;  signif- 
icance of  their  meeting,  67 ;  legend 
concerning  it,  ib.  ;  paintings  of  it,  69, 
note. 

Funds  for  building,  sources  of,  97  :  lega- 


cies, directions  to  notaries  concerning, 
191,314;  candles  and  wax,  contribu- 
tions of,  97,  100,  125,  214,  315  ;  subsi- 
dies from  the  commune,  97,  140,  191, 
204,  211,  296,  304,  311,  313  ;  tribute 
from  dependent  communities  and  bar- 
ons, 98,  214. 

G. 

Gaddi,  Taddeo,  intrusted  with  work  upon 
the  Campanile  of  Florence,  223. 

Gerard  de  Roussillon,  account  of  the 
foundation  of  the  church  atVezelay,33. 

Ghiberti,  Lorenzo,  opinion  of,  concern- 
ing Giotto,  221  ;  making  of  the  doors 
of  the  Baptistery  of  Florence  awarded 
to,  238 ;  competes  with  Brunelleschi 
for  the  dome,  246  ;  chosen  to  oversee 
the  construction  of  the  dome,  251  ;  ap- 
pointed assistant,  260 ;  rivalry  with 
Brunelleschi,  261  ;  ordered  to  make 
a  chain  for  girding  the  cupola,  265  ; 
fails,  ib. ;  dismissed  by  the  Board  of 
Works,  ib. 

Ghin  di  Tacco,  debate  in  Council  of  the 
Bell  concerning  his  stronghold,  App. 
I.  Doc.  vii.  306.  See  Dante. 

Giotto  di  Bondone,  appointed  master  of 
the  works  of  the  Duomo  of  Florence, 
220 ;  his  genius,  ib.  ;  Ghiberti's  opin- 
ion of,  221 ;  portion  of  the  Duomo 
built  by,  ib. ;  his  design  for  campa- 
nile of,  222  ;  his  death,  223  ;  his  burial 
in  Sta.  Maria  del  Fiore,  ib. 

Gothic  style,  development  of,  27 ;  Ital- 
ian practice  of,  92,  136. 

Gozzoli,  Benozzo,  paintings  by,  278. 

Guelf  and  Ghibelline,  opposing  princi- 
ples of,  104. 

Guido  di  Battifolle,  Count,  establishes 
order  in  Florence,  204. 

H. 

Harry  of  Astimberg,  his  right  to  deliver 
the  first  stroke  in  battle,  119. 

Horses,  history  of  the  bronze,  on  the 
front  of  St.  Mark's,  82. 

I. 

Innocent  III., elected  Pope,  71 ;  his  char- 
acter, ib. ;  crusade  incited  by,  ib. 

Italy,  change  in  fourteenth  century  in 
the  spirit  of  the  people  of,  156. 

L. 

Lando  di  Pietro,  sent  for  to  superintend 
work  on  new  Duomo  at  Siena,  160 ; 
his  death,  163. 

Language  and  art,  parallel  in  the  condi- 
tions of,  n. 


INDEX, 


329 


Louis,  Count  of  Blois,  joins  the  crusade 
of  Innocent  III.,  72. 

M. 

Maitani,  Lorenzo,  his  advice  concerning 
work  on  baptistery,  and  project  of  new 
Duomo  at  Siena,  147. 

Manfred,  takes  Siena  under  his  protec- 
tion, 107 ;  sends  troops  to  her  aid, 
108 ;  indignity  to  his  banner,  109 ; 
sends  more  troops,  ib, 

Medici,  Cosimo  de',  his  position  and 
character,  276 ;  recalled  from  exile, 
ib.  ;  rebuilt  Convent  of  St.  Mark,  277; 
palace  of,  ib.  ;  death  of  (1464),  276. 

Michele,  Vitale,  Doge,  inscription  upon 
the  tomb  of  the  wife  of,  65. 

Michelozzi,  architect  of  Convent  of  St. 
Mark,  277 ;  of  palace  of  Cosimo  de' 
Medici,  ib. 

Middle  Ages,  contrast  in  conditions  of 
the,  to  those  of  the  ancient  world,  8. 

Montaperti,  battle  of,  1 18-2 1.  See  Dante. 

Morality  and  beauty  inseparable  in  the 
highest  forms  of  human  expression,  29. 

Murano,  date  of  the  Duomo  of,  12,  note. 

N. 
Nanni  d'  Antonio  di  Banchi  assists  Bru- 

nelleschi  in  the  work  upon  dome,  247. 
National  consciousness,  beginnings  of,  in 

Europe  during  the  tenth  century,  6. 
Nature,  result  of  the   study  of,  upon 

Gothic  design,  29. 
Neri  di  Fioravante  intrusted  with  work 

upon  the  Campanile  of  Florence,  223. 

O. 

Oblates,  151  ;  Giovanni  Pisano  offered 
as  an  oblate,  139,  note. 

Orseolo,  Pietro,  Doge,  rebuilds  the  pal- 
ace and  church  of  St.  Mark,  50. 

Otho,  son  of  Frederic  Barbarossa,  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Venetians,  68. 

P. 

Palseologus,  John,  Emperor  of  the  East, 
meets  Pope  Eugenius  IV.  at  Florence, 
286. 

Pettignano,  Pier,  his  good  deeds,  135  ; 
proposal  in  Council  of  the  Bell  to  em- 
power him  to  select  prisoners  for  of- 
fering on  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption, 
App.  I.  Doc.  vi.  303.  See  Dante. 

Pisano,  Giovanni,  his  design  for  fa9ade 
of  Duomo  of  Siena,  137  ;  fine  imposed 
upon  him,  139 ;  offered  as  an  oblate 
to  the  Virgin,  #>.,  note. 

Niccola,  his  genius  and  works, 

128 ;  his  pulpit  at  Siena,  128-33. 


Plague  of  1348  at  Siena,  165;  at  Flor- 
ence, 223. 

Priesthood,  influence  of  the,  throughout 
Europe,  16. 

Provenzano  Salvani,  his  counsel,  1 12. 
See  Dante. 

R. 

Release  of  prisoners,  or  criminals,  on 
religious  festivals,  134,  215.  See 
Dante. 

Renaut  de  Montauban,  romance  of,  33  ; 
the  hero  engages  as  common  laborer 
on  the  Cathedral  of  Cologne,  ib. 

Roman  Empire,  the  name  of,  the  source 
of  the  main  political  theory  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  7. 

Roman  law,  influence  of,  on  the  unity  of 
European  civilization,  8. 

Rome,  tradition  of  right  of,  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  world,  7  ;  condition  of, 
at  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, 242. 

Rose  of  gold,  273,  note. 

Rudolphus  Glaber,  testimony  of,  con- 
cerning church-building,  17. 

S. 

Sculpture,  new  development  in,  232. 
Selvo,  Domenico,  Doge,  completes  St. 

Mark's,  50. 
Siena,  Archives  of,  94,  note. 

Baptistery  of,  demolition  of  the 


old  Church  of  St.  John  Baptist,  146; 
foundations  of  the  new,  its  site,  its  de- 
sign, 147  ;  unfavorable  judgment  upon 
the  work,  148  ;  prosecution  of  the  de- 
sign, 150  ;  fa9ade  left  incomplete,  151 ; 
interior  completed,  176. 

brigata  spendereccia,  157. 

Campo  di,  laid  out  in  1194,  89. 


See  Dante. 

carroccio  of,  I  to. 

character  of  her  people,  88. 

condition  of,  in  twelfth  and  thir- 


teenth centuries,  87. 

Council  of  the  Bell,  95. 

•  decline  in  spirit  and  character 


of,  in  fourteenth  century,  164, 174. 

Diana's  well,  search  for,  88.  See 


Dante. 

Duomo  of,  its  site,  90  ;  a  civic 


work,  91  ;  beginning  of  its  construc- 
tion, 7$.,  93  ;  date  of  its  campanile,  91 ; 
consecration,  92  ;  character  of  its  ar: 
chitecture,  93  ;  records  concerning  or- 
igin and  progress  of  design  deficient, 
94  ;  /'  opera,  ib. ;  ordinances  regulating 
duties  of  the  magistracy  in  respect  to 
the  building,  ib. ;  funds  for  building, 


330 


INDEX. 


whence  derived,  97  ;  offerings  at  Feast 
of  the  Assumption,  ib. ;  dedicated  to 
Madonna  of  the  Assumption,  ib. ;  can- 
dles sold  for  benefit  of  building-fund, 
100 ;  legacies,  101,314;  earliest  exist- 
ing records  concerning  the  building, 
lot ;  action  of  Council  of  the  Bell, 
102  ;  Fra  Melano  master  of  the  works, 
ib.,  300,  note;  progress  of  the  work  in 
1260,  103  ;  services  in,  before  the  bat- 
tle of  Montaperti,  113  ;  dedication  of 
the  city  to  the  Madonna,  1 14 ;  thanks- 
giving for  victory,  122  ;  two  captains 
buried  in,  ib. ;  inscriptions,  123;  masts 
of  carroccio  set  up  within,  ib. ;  ordi- 
nance concerning  offerings  of  wax  re- 
newed, 125,  315  ;  cupola  completed, 
125  ;  irregularities  of  construction  of 
cupola,  ib. ;  Fra  Melano  contracts 
with  Niccola  Pisano  for  a  pulpit,  128  ; 
description  of  pulpit,  130 ;  release  of 
prisoners  on  Feast  of  the  Assumption, 
134 ;  design  by  Giovanni  Pisano  for 
the  facade,  137  ;  description  of  fa9ade, 
138 ;  grant  of  funds  by  the  commune, 
140 ;  altar-piece  by  Duccio  di  Bonin- 
segna,  142 ;  celebration  on  taking  the 
altar-piece  to  the  church,  144 ;  fate  of 
the  altar-piece,  145 ;  new  baptistery, 
extension  of  choir,  147 ;  work  pro- 
nounced unsatisfactory,  148 ;  recom- 
mendation to  construct  a  new  church, 
ib. ;  resolve  of  Council  to  proceed 
with  work  already  begun,  149 ;  slow 
progress,  150;  oblates,  151;  enact- 
ments in  statute  of  1334  in  regard  to 
the  opera,  153  ;  new  designs,  159  ;  re- 
solve to  build  a  new  nave,  160  ;  Lan- 
do  di  Pietro  superintendent  of  work, 
ib. ;  beauty  of  new  design,  162  ;  work 
checked  by  the  plague  of  1348,  169  ; 
falling-off  of  funds,  1 70 ;  defects  in 
new  construction,  ib. ;  deliberations 
concerning  the  work,  171 ;  project  of 
new  nave  abandoned,  172;  demolition 
of  great  part  of  recent  work,  173  ;  com- 
pletion of  the  building  on  the  old  plan, 
176;  minor  works  of  adornment,  15ec- 
cafume's  pavement,  ib.,  note ;  close  of 
the  history,  177. 

Siena,  epidemic  of  1340,  162. 

Feast  of  the  Assumption,  cele- 
bration of,  99. 

•  Florence,  reception  of  Ghibelline 


exiles  from,  106 ;  breach  of  treaty  with, 
107  ;  war  with,  108. 

Fonte  Branda,  construction  of, 

89.     See  Dante. 

Fonte  Gaia,  water  brought  to, 


163. 


Siena,  Ghibellinism  of,  106, 124. 
luxury  of,  in  fourteenth  century, 

157. 

Manfred  takes  the  city  under  his 


protection,  107. 
Montaperti,  preparations  for  bat- 
tle of,  111-17;  battle  of,  117-21  ;  re- 
joicings after,  122  ;  results  of,  124. 

plague  of  1348,  165  ;  effects  of, 


1 68. 

statute  of  1260,  form  of,  94;  ar- 
ticles of,  relating  to  Duomo,  ib.,  295  ; 
revisions  of,  153. 

trades  of,  list  of,  in  ordinance 


regulating  their  contributions  to  the 
Duomo,  App.  I.  Doc.  xi.  315. 

tribute  of  subject   communities 


and  barons,  98. 
Virgin,  dedication  of  city  to  the, 


114. 


wax,  offerings  of,  for  benefit  of 
Duomo  at  Feast  of  the  Assumption, 
97,125,315. 

wealth  and  power  of,  increase  of, 


in  fourteenth  century,  156, 158, 164. 
-year,  beginning  of  Sienese,  March 


25,  1 02,  note. 

Simon  de  Montfort  joins  the  crusade 
of  Innocent  III.,  72. 

Speier,  Cathedral  of,  20. 

Sta.  Maria  del  Fiore.     See  Florence. 

Sta.  Maria  Novella,  picture  of  Duomo 
of  Florence  in  Spanish  chapel  of,  234. 

Sta.  Reparata.     See  Florence. 

St.  John  the  Baptist,  the  patron  of  Flor- 
ence, 212  ;  Feast  of,  214;  release  of 
prisoners  on  the  Feast  of,  215. 

St.  Mark.     See  Venice. 

St.  Mark's.     See  Venice. 

T. 

Talenti,  Francesco,  master  of  the  works 
of  the  Duomo  of  Florence,  226 ;  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Simone,  231. 

Thibaut,  Count  of  Champagne,  takes 
part  in  crusade  of  Innocent  III.,  72. 

Tintoretto,  paintings  of  miracles  of  St. 
Mark,  48,  note. 

Torcello,  Duomo  of,  23. 

Towers  in  Italian  cities,  91,  note. 

V. 

Vasari,  Giorgio,  his  Life  of  Brunelleschi, 
238,  note ;  his  account  of  Brunelleschi's 
dome,  254 ;  character  of  his  Lives  of 
the  Artists,  ib.,  note. 

Venetian  taste,  change  in,  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  61. 

Venetians,  character  of  the,  40  ;  affected 
by  their  relations  with  the  East,  41. 


INDEX, 


331 


Venice,  admonition  of,  to  a  Doge  on  his 
election,  64. 

affection  of  her  people  for,  40. 

appeal  of,  to  the  poetic  imagina- 
tion, 39. 

belief  in  the  perpetuity  of,  43. 

Dandolo's  Chronicle  of,  46,  note. 

Doge,  election  of,  63. 

envoys  sent  from  France  to,  con- 


cerning crusade  of  Innocent  III.,  72 ; 
proceedings  of  envoys  to,  73-79. 

festival  of  the  espousals  of  the 


sea,  70. 

fleet  prepared  by,  for  crusade, 


79- 

Frederic  Barbarossa  and  Alex- 
ander III.  at,  1177,  66. 

honesty  in  conduct  of  public  af- 


fairs in,  64. 

houses,  private,  in,  42. 

independence  of  ecclesiastical  au- 


thority of,  44. 

interests  of,  41. 

legend  of,  44. 

moral  history  of,  62. 

nobles  of,  42. 

pillage  of  Constantinople  by,  82. 

rank  of,  in  the  history  of  the  arts, 


52- 

St.  Mark,  peculiar  relation  of,  to 

Venice,  45  ;  legend  of,  ib.;  legend  con- 
cerning the  translation  of  the  body 
of,  from  Alexandria  in  829,  46  ;  mira- 
cles of,  represented  in  pictures  by  Tin- 
toretto, 48,  note  ;  disappearance  of  the 
body  of,  51  ;  miraculous  discovery  of 
the  body  of,  in  1094,  ib. :  the  relics  of, 
placed  in  the  crypt  of  St.  Mark's,  53. 
•  St.  Mark's,  date  of,  12,  note;  want 


of  documents  relating  to  the  history 
of,  down  to  fifteenth  century,  49,  note  ; 
first  church  built  about  829,  destroyed 
by  fire  976, 49  ;  rebuilt  by  Doge  Pie- 
tro  Orseolo,  50  ;  remodelled  by  Dome- 
nico  Contarini  in  1042-51,  ib.;  finished 
by  Domenico  Selvo  in  1071,  #.;  dedi- 
cation, October  8, 1094,  51 ;  originality 
of  the  design,  52  ;  architect  unknown, 


53 ;  plan,  ib.;  form  of  cross,  domes, 
and  decorations  borrowed  from  the 
East,  54 ;  Romanesque  character  of 
crypt  and  apses,  ib.;  mosaics  and  dec- 
orations, ib. ;  centre  of  Venetian  life, 
55  ;  variety  of  materials  in,  an  indica- 
tion of  the  prevalence  of  genuine  ar- 
tistic spirit  in  Venice,  ib.;  effect  of  col- 
or in,  56;  additions,  57;  fa9ade,  ib.; 
mosaic  decoration  of,  a  means  of  relig- 
ious instruction,  58;  inscriptions  on  the 
walls,  59—60  ;  scheme  and  subjects  of 
pictorial  decoration,  59  ;  complete  at 
the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century, 
60  ;  campanile  of,  61  ;  additions  from 
1125-1350,  ib. ;  various  uses  of,  63 ; 
slabs  of  red  marble  in  vestibule,  67  ; 
assembly  in,  to  consider  crusade  of  In- 
nocent III.,  75  ;  memories  of,  second- 
ed appeal  of  envoys,  76 ;  bronze  horses 
on  front  of,  82  ;  story  of,  an  epitome 
of  story  of  Venice,  83. 
Venice,  traditions  of  the  old  civilization 
linked  to  the  conditions  of  the  new  by, 

39- 

Vezelay,  story  of  the  foundation  of 
church  at,  in  the  Romance  of  Gerard 
of  Roussillon,  33. 

Villani,  Giovanni,  description  by,  of  the 
walls  and  towers  of  Florence,  201 ; 
of  conflagration,  203. 

Villehardouin,  Geoffroi  de,  chronicle  of, 
of  the  conquest  of  Constantinople, 
73  ;  sent  as  envoy  to  Venice,  ib.  ;  ad- 
dress of,  to  the  Venetians,  76;  his  ac- 
count of  proceedings  of  the  envoys, 
73-81. 

Visconti,  Filippo  Maria,  Duke  of  Milan, 
at  war  with  Florence,  269. 

W. 

Worms,  Cathedral  of,  20. 

Z. 

Ziani,  Sebastiano,  Doge,  brings  about 
meeting  between  Frederic  Barbarossa 
and  Pope  Alexander  III.,  66  ;  inscrip- 
tion on  his  tomb,  66. 


THE    END. 


VALUABLE  AND  INTERESTING  WORKS 

FOB 

PUBLIC  &  PRIVATE  LIBRARIES, 

PUBLISHED  BY  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  NEW  YORK, 


For  a  full  List  of  Books  suitable  for  Libraries  published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 
tee  HARPERS'  CATALOGUE,  which  may  be  had  gratuitously  on  application  to  tht 
Publishers  personally,  or  by  letter  enclosing  Nine  Cents  in  Postage  stamps. 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS  will  send  their  publications  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  on  re- 
ceipt of  the  price. 


MACAULAY'S  ENGLAND.  The  History  of  England  from  the  Ac- 
cession of  James  II.  By  THOMAS  BABINGTON  MACAULAY.  New 
Edition,  from  new  Electrotype  Plates.  8vo,  Cloth,  with  Paper  La- 
bels, Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  5  vols.  in  a  Box,  $10  00  per  set. 
Sold  only  in  sets.  Cheap  Edition,  5  vols.  in  a  Box,  12mo,  Cloth, 
$2  50 ;  Sheep,  $3  75. 

MACAULAY'S  LIFE  AND  LETTERS.  The  Life  and  Letters  of 
Lord  Macaulay.  By  his  Nephew,  G.  OTTO  TKEVELY"AN,  M.P.  With 
Portrait  on  Steel.  Complete  in  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges 
and  Gilt  Tops,  $5  00 ;  Sheep,  $6  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $9  50.  Popular 
Edition,  two  vols.  in  one,  12ino,  Cloth,  $1  75. 

HUME'S  ENGLAND.  The  History  of  England,  from  the  Invasion 
of  Julius  C*sar  to  the  Abdication  of  James  II.,  1688.  By  DAVID 
HUME.  New  and  Elegant  Library  Edition,  from  new  Electrotype 
Plates.  6  vols.  in  a  Box,  8vo,  Cloth,  with  Paper  Labels,  Uncut 
Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $12  00.  Sold  only  in  sets.  Popular  Edition, 
6  vols.  in  a  Box,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  00 ;  Sheep,  $4  50. 

GIBBON'S  ROME.  The  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire.  By  EDWARD  GIBBON.  With  Notes  by  Dean  MILMAN, 
M.  GUIZOT,  and  Dr.  WILLIAM  SMITH.  New  Edition,  from  new  Elec- 
trotype Plates.  6  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth,  with  Paper  Labels,  Uncut  Edges 
and  Gilt  Tops,  $12  00.  Sold  only  in  sets.  Popular  Edition,  6  vols. 
in  a  Box,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  00;  Sheep,  $4  50. 

HILDRETH'S  UNITED  STATES.  History  of  the  United  States. 
FIRST  SERIES  :  From  the  Discovery  of  the  Continent  to  the  Organi- 
zation of  the  Government  under  the  Federal  Constitution.  SECOND 
SERIES  :  From  the  Adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  to  the  End 
of  the  Sixteenth  Congress.  By  RICHARD  HILDRETH.  Popular  Edi- 
tion, 6  vols.  in  a  Box,  Svo,  Cloth,  with  Paper  Labels,  Uncut  Edges 
and  Gilt  Tops,  $12  00.  Sold  only  in  sets. 


2         Valuable  Works  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries. 

MOTLEY'S  DUTCH  KEPUBLIC.  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Repub- 
lic. A  History.  By  JOHN  LOTHROP  MOTLEY,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.  With 
a  Portrait  of  William  of  Orange.  Cheap  Edition,  3  vols.  in  a  Box, 
8vo,  Cloth,  with  Paper  Labels,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $6  00. 
Sold  only  in  sets.  Original  Library  Edition,  3  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth, 
$10  50  ;  Sheep,  $12  00  ;  Half  Calf,  $17  25. 

MOTLEY'S  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  History  of  the  United 
Netherlands :  from  the  Death  of  William  the  Silent  to  the  Twelve 
Years'  Truce — 1609.  With  a  full  View  of  the  English-Dutch  Strug- 
gle against  Spain,  and  of  the  Origin  and  Destruction  of  the  Spanish 
Armada.  By  JOHN  LOTHROP  MOTLEY,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.  Portraits. 
Cheap  Edition,  4  vols.  in  a  Box,  8vo,  Cloth,  with  Paper  Labels,  Un- 
cut Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $8  00.  Sold  only  in  sets.  Original  Li- 
brary Edition,  4  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $14  00;  Sheep,  $16  00;  Half 
Calf,  $23  00. 

MOTLEY'S  LIFE  AND  DEATH  OF  JOHN  OF  BARNEVELD. 
The  Life  and  Death  of  John  of  Barneveld,  Advocate  of  Holland : 
with  a  View  of  the  Primary  Causes  and  Movements  of  "The  Thir- 
ty-years' War."  By  JOHN  LOTHROP  MOTLEY,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.  Illus- 
trated. Cheap  Edition,  2  vols.  in  a  Box,  8vo,  Cloth,  with  Paper  La- 
bels, Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $4  00.  Sold  only  in  sets.  Origi- 
nal Library  Edition,  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $7  00;  Sheep,  $8  00 ;  Half 
Calf,  $11  50. 

BENJAMIN'S  CONTEMPORARY  ART.  Contemporary  Art  in  Eu- 
rope. By  S.  G.  W.  BENJAMIN.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

BENJAMIN'S  ART  IN  AMERICA.  Art  in  America.  By  S.  G. 
W.  BENJAMIN.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

THE  FIRST  CENTURY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.  A  Review  of  Amer- 
ican Progress.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

HUDSON'S  HISTORY  OF  JOURNALISM.  Journalism  in  the 
United  States,  from  1690  to  1872.  By  FREDERIC  HUDSON.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $5  00  ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

JEFFERSON'S  LIFE.  The  Domestic  Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson: 
Compiled  from  Family  Letters  and  Reminiscences,  by  his  Great- 
granddaughter,  SARAH  N.  RANDOLPH.  Illustrated.  Crown  8vo, 
Cloth,  $2  50. 

SQUIER'S  PERU.  Peru :  Incidents  of  Travel  and  Exploration  in 
the  Land  of  the  Incas.  By  E.  GEORGE  SQUIER,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  late 
U.  S.  Commissioner  to  Peru.  With  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

MYERS'S  LOST  EMPIRES.  Remains  of  Lost  Empires  :  Sketches 
of  the  Ruins  of  Palmyra,  Nineveh,  Babylon,  and  Persepolis.  By  P. 
V.  N.  MYERS.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 


Valuable  Works  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries.        3 

KINGLAKE'S  CRIMEAN  WAR.  The  Invasion  of  the  Crimea :  its 
Origin,  and  an  Account  of  its  Progress  down  to  the  Death  of  Lord 
Raglan.  By  ALEXANDER  WILLIAM  KINGLAKE.  With  Maps  and 
Plans.  Three  Volumes  now  ready.  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00  per  vol. 

LAMB'S  COMPLETE  WORKS.  The  Works  of  Charles  Lamb. 
Comprising  his  Letters,  Poems,  Essays  of  Elia,  Essays  upon  Shak- 
speare,  Hogarth,  etc.,  and  a  Sketch  of  his  Life,  with  the  Final  Memo- 
rials, by  T.  NOON  TALFOURD.  With  Portrait.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth, 
$3  00. 

LAWRENCE'S  HISTORICAL  STUDIES.  Historical  Studies.  By 
EUGENE  LA  WHENCE.  Containing  the  following  Essays :  The  Bish- 
ops of  Rome. — Leo  and  Luther. — Loyola  and  the  Jesuits. — Ecu- 
menical Councils. — The  Vaudois. — The  Huguenots. — The  Church  of 
Jerusalem. — Dominic  and  the  Inquisition. — The  Conquest  of  Ireland. 
— The  Greek  Church.  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops, 
$300. 

LOSSING'S  FIELD-BOOK  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  Pictorial 
Field-Book  of  the  Revolution  :  or,  Illustrations  by  Pen  and  Pencil 
of  the  History,  Biography,  Scenery,  Relics,  and  Traditions  of  the 
War  for  Independence.  By  BENSON  J.  LOSSING.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth, 
$14  00;  Sheep  or  Roan,  $15  00;  Half  Calf,  $18  00. 

LOSSING'S  FIELD-BOOK  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812.  Pictorial 
Field-Book  of  the  War  of  1812 :  or,  Illustrations  by  Pen  and  Pencil 
of  the  History,  Biography,  Scenery,  Relics,  and  Traditions  of  the  last 
War  for  American  Independence.  By  BENSON  J.  LOSSING.  With 
several  hundred  Engravings  on  Wood  by  Lossing  and  Barritt,  chiefly 
from  Original  Sketches  by  the  Author.  1088  pages,  8vo,  Cloth, 
$7  00;  Sheep,  $8  50;  Roan,  $9  00;  Half  Calf,  $10  00. 

FORSTER'S  LIFE  OF  DEAN  SWIFT.  The  Early  Life  of  Jonathan 
Swift  (1667-1711).  By  JOHN  FORSTER.  With  Portrait.  8vo,  Cloth, 
Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $2  50. 

HALLAM'S  MIDDLE  AGES.  View  of  the  State  of  Europe  during 
the  Middle  Ages.  By  HENRY  HALLAM.  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00  ;  Sheep, 
$2  50. 

HALLAM'S  CONSTITUTIONAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND.    The 

Constitutional  History  of  England,  from  the  Accession  of  Henry  VII. 
to  the  Death  of  George  II.  By  HENRY  HALLAM.  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00 ; 
Sheep,  $2  50. 

HALLAM'S  LITERATURE.  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Eu- 
rope during  the  Fifteenth,  Sixteenth,  and  Seventeenth  Centuries.  By 
HENUY  HALLAM.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00;  Sheep,  $5  00. 

GREEN'S  ENGLISH  PEOPLE.  History  of  the  English  People.  By 
JOHN  RICHARD  GREEN,  M.A.  3  volumes  ready.  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50 
per  volume. 


4        Valuable  Works  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries. 

SCHWEINFURTH'S  HEART  OF  AFRICA.  The  Heart  of  Africa. 
Three  Years'  Travels  and  Adventures  in  the  Unexplored  Regions  of 
the  Centre  of  Africa — from  1868  to  1871.  By  Dr.  GEORG  SCHWEIN- 
FTTRTH.  Translated  by  ELLEN  E.  FREWER.  With  an  Introduction 
by  WINWOOD  READE.  Illustrated  by  about  130  Wood -cuts  from 
Drawings  made  by  the  Author,  and  with  two  Maps.  2  vols.,  8vo, 
Cloth,  $8  00. 

M'CLINTOCK  &  STRONG'S  CYCLOPAEDIA.  Cyclopedia  of  Bib- 
lical, Theological,  and  Ecclesiastical  Literature.  Prepared  by  the 
Rev.  JOHN  M'CLINTOCK,  D.D.,  and  JAMES  STRONG,  S.T.D.  9tWs. 
now  ready.  Royal  8vo.  Price  per  vol.,  Cloth,  $5  00  ;  Sheep,  $6  00  ; 
Half  Morocco,  $8  00.  (Sold  by  Subscription.) 

MOHAMMED  AND  MOHAMMEDANISM:  Lectures  Delivered  at 
the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain  in  February  and  March,  1874. 
By  R.  BOSWORTH  SMITH,  M.A.,  Assistant  Master  in  Harrow  School ; 
late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  With  an  Appendix  contain- 
ing Emanuel  Deutsch's  Article  on  "  Islam."  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

MOSHEIM'-S  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY,  Ancient  and  Modern  ; 
in  which  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Variation  of  Church  Power  are  con. 
sidered  in  their  Connection  with  the  State  of  Learning  and  Philos- 
ophy, and  the  Political  History  of  Europe  during  that  Period.  Trans 
lated,  with  Notes,  etc.,  by  A.  MACLAINE,  D.D.  Continued  to  1826, 
by  C.  COOTE,  LL.D.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00 ;  Sheep,  $5  00. 

HARPER'S  NEW  CLASSICAL  LIBRARY.     Literal  Translations. 
The  following  volumes  are  now  ready.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50  each. 
C^SAR. — VIRGIL. —  SALLUST.  —  HORACE.  —  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. — 
CICERO'S  OFFICES,  etc. — CICERO  ON  ORATORY  AND  ORATORS. — 
TACITUS  (2  vols.). — TERENCE. — SOPHOCLES. — JUVENAL. —  XENO- 
PHON. — HOMER'S  ILIAD. — HOMER'S  ODYSSEY. — HERODOTUS. — DE- 
MOSTHENES (2  vols.). — THUCYDIDES. — ^ESCHYLUS. — EURIPIDES  (2 
vols.). — LIVY  (2  vols.). — PLATO  [Select  Dialogues]. 

PARTON'S  CARICATURE.  Caricature  and  Other  Comic  Art,  in 
All  Times  and  Many  Lands.  By  JAMES  PARTON.  With  203  Illus- 
trations. 8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $5.  00 ;  Half  Calf, 
$7  25. 

NICHOLS'S  ART  EDUCATION.  Art  Education  applied  to  Indus- 
try. By  GEORGE  WARD  NICHOLS.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00 ; 
Half  Calf,  $6  25. 

VINCENT'S  LAND  OF  THE  WHITE  ELEPHANT.  The  Land 
of  the  White  Elephant :  Sights  and  Scenes  in  Southeastern  Asia.  A 
Personal  Narrative  of  Travel  and  Adventure  in  Farther  India,  em- 
bracing the  Countries  of  Burma,  Siam,  Cambodia,  and  Cochin-China 
(1871-2).  By  FRANK  VINCENT,  Jr.  Illustrated  with  Maps,  Plans, 
and  Wood-cuts.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 


